ADVANCING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LMEs DURING CLIMATE CHANGEResearch on Ocean Acidification at the

University of Malaya

Emienour Muzalina Mustafa, Choon-Weng Lee & Siew-Moi Phang

Institute of Ocean & Earth Sciences, University of Malaya,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

MARINE BIOTA

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

HUMAN IMPACTS: POLLUTION

EUTROPHICATIONOVERFISHING

OCEAN DE-OXYGENATION

OCEAN WARMING

↑ CO 2

OCEANS IN A CHANGING CLIMATE

Fig. 5. The palaeohistorical record of ocean pH demonstrates that present levels are unseen in the last 20 million years (Turley et al., 2006).

Fig. 1. Projected regional changes in ocean chemistry likely to be experienced by particularly vulnerable ecosystems and compared to global-scale surface ocean changes. Global ocean surface averages (bottom) are shown, from left to right: CO2 partial pressure, pH(SWS) and calcite and aragonite saturation. Editorial, Marine Pollution Bulletin 60(2010): 787-792

Fig. 2. Photos of representatives of calcifying groups thought to be vulnerable to ocean acidification from top left to bottom right: pteropod (Jeremy Young, NHM), benthic foraminifer (James Rae, UBristol), coccolithophore (Jeremy Young, NHM), blue mussel (Frédéric Gazeau, Villefranche), sea urchin (Helen Findlay, PML), brittlestar (SamDupont, UGothenburg), tropical coral (Malcolm Shick, UMaine), coralline algae (Armin Form, IFM-GEOMAR), cold water coral (Karen Hissmann, IFM-GEOMAR).

COMMERCIAL SPECIES IN ASIA THAT MAY BE IMPACTED BY OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

Climate change and the oceans – What does the future hold?Jelle Bijma a,⇑, Hans-O. Pörtner a, Chris Yesson b, Alex D. RogersMarine Pollution Bulletin 74 (2013) 495–505

Change in diversity as a function of pH reduction for organisms living near the Ischia CO2 vents.

No pH reductionCalcifying taxa (51 taxa )Non-calcifying taxa (71 taxa )

Loss of biodiversity of 40% for non-calcifiers and all taxa

Loss of biodiversity of 70% for calcifiers, for a pH reduction corresponding to the atmospheric pCO2 level expected by 2100.

(Data from Hall-Spencer et al. ,2008).

Atmospheric pCO2 levels (ppmv CO2) that would be required to cause pH changes in ocean surface waters

Ocean acidification

• Reduced pH by 0.2 units from pre-industrial baseline

• Changes in SW chemistry besides pH reduction; changes in chemical speciation ; carbon storage& biological pump

• Decline in the aragonite and calcite saturation state

• At atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 560 ppm (projected in 2050–2080), most ocean surface waters will be undersaturated with aragonite

• Reduced calcification rates of calcifying species with reef erosion resulting in species extinction

• Large parts of the ocean will lose cold-water corals

• Increased stress on phytoplankton resulting from decreased iron uptake

• Other impacts: changes to photosynthesis, oxygenexchange, reproduction, nitrogen fixation

Impacts of different levels of atmospheric CO2 on coral reef environments (Turley et al. 2006)

2013 - 2015

Understanding Air-Ocean-Land Interactions for Coastal Community Security

Ocean Governance and Coastal Community

Geopolitics & Culture

Interactions between air and ocean in

relation to climate change

and bioproductivity

Sustaining

fisheries &

enhancing

aquaculture

for food

security

Coastal Environment

Protection and Rehabilitation

AnthropogenicWarming &

zooplanktoncommunity in tropical

coastal waters

Climate change and marine-associated human bacterial pathogens

A comparative study on biomass & carbon pool between a natural and

degrading mangrove forest in Malaysia.

The effect of Ocean Acidification &temperature

change on Halocarbon Emissions by Tropical

Seaweeds

The carbon flux through bacteria in coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia

Effects of Acidification on Marine Mictobial Diversity and Proteases

Investigating primary productivity in Tropical Coastal Waters

Academia Sinica, Taiwan

University of East Anglia,

United Kingdom

MonashUniversity,

Australia

Hokkaido University, Japan

Ocean Acidification and Climate Change

Impact on Living & Social Cultural of Coastal

Communities

University Malaya’s Expertise in Marine Science

Physical Sciences● Sedimentology (Coastal shallow marine clasticsedimentology)● Geotechnical Engineering (Eco-Engineering, Coastal Protection)● Ecological Engineering (Mangrove Restoration and Rehabilitation)

Political Science & International relations● Southeast Asian Culture-Performing Arts

Maritime Law & Policy● International Law (Law of the Sea, Marine

Environmental Law)

● Insurance Law (Marine Insurance)

Atmospheric Sciences● Meteorology (Polar meteorology, Monsoon

meteorology,Air Pollution)

Mangrove Ecology● Estuarine And Coastal Ecology● Husbandry Of Aquatic Organisms● Aquatic Living Resources

Marine Biotechnology● Biofuel (Bioethanol from seaweeds, Biodiessel from algae)● Bioremediation (Bioremediation of agro-industrial wastewater)● Transgenic Plant (Strain improvement of algae / seaweeds)● Gene Transformation (Microalgae & Seaweed Genetic Transformation)● Tissue Culture (Seaweed Tissue Culture, Protoplast Regeneration)● Marine Products Biotechnology

Marine Genomics● Algae cDNA Library,

ESTs● Species Diversity (Molecular Phylogenetics, Systematics)

Biological Sciences● Algae Phycology● Behavioural Ecology of Marine Organisms ● Evolutionary Biology ● Genetic ecotoxicology of Marine Organism ● Harmful Algal Blooms(Habs) And Toxins ● Marine Biodiversity And Conservation● Marine Microbial Enzymology● Mycology (Marine Fungi) ● Seagrass Ecosystems & Biogeography

Project: Long term pCO2 trends in Malaysian waters

• One estuarine (Port Klang) and one coastal water (Port Dickson) system.

• Method: Gran’s alkalinity and pH measurements (total scale), and estimation of pCO2 via the software CO2 sys.

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Lee Choon WengInstitution: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, IOES, UM

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Project Title: Large scale mesocosm experiments: Investigating bacterial respiration in high CO2 waters

Project members (China):Name :Prof Kunshan GaoInstitution:State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Assoc Prof Lee Choon WengInstitution: Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya

Research Plan: In real world scenario, the inter-play between bacteria and other marine microorganisms (especially phytoplankton) may significantly alter how ocean acidification affects bacteria.

Photo & Photo caption

Research Area : Marine Science & Biotechnology

Objective: To investigate the interaction between bacteria and phytoplankton in high CO2 waters

Project: Effects of acidification on bacterial process rates

• Microcosm experimental setup with CO2

enrichment, and bacterial process rates (production and respiration) were measured.

• Bacterial growth efficiency was also calculated over pCO2 increase.

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Lee Choon WengInstitution: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, IOES, UM

Project : The carbon flux through bacteria in coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia

Research Area : Marine Science & Biotechnology

Objective: To measure the bacteria mediated carbon fluxes, and ascertain the extent of net-heterotrophy in our coastal waters

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Lee Choon WengInstitution: Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, IOES, UM

Progress/ Achievement/ Research Plan: •Lee CW, Bong CW (2012) The relative importance of viral lysis and grazing towards bacterial mortality in tropical coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia. Bulletin of Marine Science 88(1): 1-14•Bong CW, Lee CW (2011) The contribution of heterotrophic nanoflagellategrazing towards bacterial mortality in tropical waters: Comparing estuaries and coastal ecosystems. Marine & Freshwater Research 62: 414-420•Lee CW, Bong CW, Hii YS (2009) Temporal variation of bacterial respiration and growth efficiency in tropical coastal waters. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75(24): 7594-7601

Photo & Photo caption

Photo & Photo caption

Research area: marine biology, ecology and biodiversity

Objectives: I. To evaluate the effects of acidification on marine

bacterial communityII. To assess the effects of acidification on microbial

proteases

Project members (Malaysia)Name: Dr Bong Chui WeiInstitution: Institute of Biological Sciences

Faculty of ScienceUniversity of Malaya

Name: A/P Dr Lee Choon WengInstitution: Institute of Biological Sciences

Faculty of ScienceUniversity of Malaya

Progress: Still on going project

Project: The Effect of Ocean Acidification and Temperature Change on Seaweed Halocarbon Emissions

Siew-Moi Phang, Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman, Fiona Keng,

Paramjeet Kaur , James Lim

John A. Pyle, William T. Sturges, Gil Malin

• Stratospheric ozone layer is essential for life on Earth, as a shield from the harmful UV

radiation

• Halocarbons emitted into the atmosphere causes ozone loss and contribute to climate

change

• Seaweeds are one of the natural sources found to release halocarbons

• Ocean acidification and temperature change, resulting from global warming, may affect

seaweed halocarbon emissions

• Halocarbon release rates higher for tropical algae than temperate (Abrahamsson et al.,

1995b; Ekdahl, 1997)

• Studies relating pH and halocarbon emission:

High pH promote halocarbon production (Mtolera et al., 1996);

Optimum pH range for brominating activity differ between red, brown and green

algae (Laturnus et al., 1997)

Laboratory & Field Studies

Incubation experiments to profile

halocarbon emissions from selected

seaweeds

Flux chambers to measure in situ

halocarbon fluxes in the coastal

environmentPurge Trap sampler link with GC-MS MicroDirac: portable gas

chromatograph

Selected Pulications:

Volatile halocarbon emissions by three tropical brown seaweeds under different irradiances.

Fiona Seh-Lin Keng & Siew-Moi Phang & Noorsaadah Abd Rahman & Emma C. Leedham & Claire Hughes & Andrew D. Robinson

& Neil R. P. Harris & John A. Pyle & William T. Sturges. J. Applied. Phycol. (2013)

Leedham, E. C., Hughes, C., Keng, F. S. L., Phang, S.-M., Malin, G., and Sturges, W. T. (2013) Emission of atmospherically

significant halocarbons by naturally occurring and farmed tropical macroalgae. Biogeosciences Discuss., 10, 483-528,

doi:10.5194/bgd-10-483-2013

RESULTS1. The coral reef at Cape Rachado is dominated by the brown seaweeds. 2. Three brown seaweed species, namely Sargassum binderi Sonder ex J. Agardh, Padina

australis Hauck, and Turbinaria conoides (J. Agardh) Kützing were found to be the dominant seaweeds at Cape Rachado and were used in the study to test the influence of irradiance on the emission of a suite of eight halocarbons; viz. CH3I, CH2I2, CH2BrCl, CH2BrI, CH2Br2, CHBr3, CHBrCl2 and CHBr2Cl

3. Some of the selected halocarbon compounds emitted by the three seaweeds were influencedby light especially the CHBr2Cl (r= 0.8523;

p< 0.05)4. Emission of halocarbons are species-dependent.5. It is important to measure actual emission rates

under the natural environment in the tropics in the future.

Volatile halocarbon emissions by three tropical brown seaweeds under different irradiances

Control Site

Impact Site

Port Klang

Kapar Power Station

Project: Anthropogenic Warming and Zooplankton Community in Tropical Coastal Waters

Chong V.C., Chew L.L., Loh K.H., Ng C.C. , Wong C.S (UM)Hwang J.S. (NTOU)

TO TEST HYPOTHESISAnthropogenic warming has changed the abundance and community structure of zooplankton in Klang Strait

Port Klang

Kapar Power Station

Project: Climate change and marine-associated human bacterial pathogens

Research Area : Marine Science & Biotechnology

Objective: to investigate the impact of climate change on the distribution of human bacterial pathogens in Malaysian coastal waters and the disease epidemiology in Malaysia.

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Dr. Chai Lay Ching, Prof. Dr. Thong Kwai Lin, Prof. Dr. Son RaduInstitution: Universiti Malaya (CLC, TKL); Universiti Putra Malaysia (SR)

Collaborators: To be named

Epidemiology of bacterial diseases was obtained to look

for possible link to climatic events in Malaysia

Sampling of coastal waters is carried out to study the impact

of monsoon and sea surface temperature on the pathogenic

vibrios, E. coli and other bacteria population in the

waters

the genome of the isolated marine-borne pathogen will be study to understand the role of virulence and virulence-related genes in the survival of human

pathogen in the waters and climate change

Fisherman villages by the estuary

Vibrio sp. growing on chromogenic agar

Screenshot obtained from NOAA climate-vibrio diseases model showing potential risk of vibrio diseases in Sabah 2013. We are working with our collaborator from ECDC, Sweden to improve the Malaysia regional model.

Project: A comparative study on biomass & carbon pool between a natural and degrading mangrove forest in Malaysia.

Research Area : Marine Science & Biotechnology

Objective: to determine and compare biomass and carbon content between natural and degrading mangrove forest habitats.

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Dr Rozainah M. ZakariaInstitution: University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Collaborators: To be named

Progress/ Achievement/ Research Plan: Hemati Zhila , Hossain Mahmood & M. Z. Rozainah. 2013. Biodiversity and biomass of a natural and degraded mangrove forest of Peninsular Malaysia. Environ Earth Sci. DOI 10.1007/s12665-013-2853-6

Photo & Photo caption

Litter production sampling

Root production measurement

Tagging of a mangrove tree for annual dbh increment.

Project : Assessment of Iron Enrichment Effects on the Tropical Marine Algae Using Growth Responses, Biochemical Composition, DNA Damage and Superoxide dismutase Activity.

Research Area : Marine Science & Biotechnology

Objective: To investigated the effect of iron enrichment on a tropical marine alga Chlorella vulgaris, Tetraselmis tetrahele, Boergeseniaforbesii & Ventricaria ventricosa

Project members (Malaysia): Name : Dr Emienour Muzalina Mustafa & Prof Dr Phang Siew MoiInstitution: University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Collaborators: Prof Dr John Beardall

Progress/ Achievement/ Research Plan: Findings from this study will contribute towards the development of bioassays for the detection and monitoring of Fe fertilization based on DNA damage detection, growth, biochemical composition and stress enzyme response in tropical algae.

Tetraselmis tetraheleUMACC 144

Chlorella vulgarisUMACC 245

Ventricaria ventricosa

Boergesenia forbesii

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

i) Variability in habitat responses to ocean acidification: pH and seawater chemistry changes in habitats in response to elevated CO2 levels

ii) Response and tolerance of commercially & ecologically important marine species to pH/CO2 changes, to identify the tipping points

iii) Adaptation: innovative technology to ensure sustainable benefits and habitat protection under future climate. Eg. ecosystem-based fisheries management; coastal protection; renewable energy.

RESPONSE OF COASTAL & MARINE HABITATS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA REGION TO OCEAN ACIDIFICATION AND POTENTIAL

ADAPTATION STRATEGIES

Thank You