Aquatic primary production in a high-CO2 world
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Updated: May 2, 2026

A Low-Cost Method of Measuring the In Situ Primary Productivity of Periphyton Communities of Lentic Waters
Published on: December 16, 2022
Etienne Low-Décarie1, Gregor F Fussmann1, Graham Bell1
1McGill University, Department of Biology, Stewart Biology Building, 1205 Avenue Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada.
Abstract:
Here, we provide a review of the direct effect of increasing CO2 on aquatic primary producers through its function as a source of carbon, focusing our analysis on the interpretation of this increase as an increase in the availability of a resource. This provides an interesting context to evaluate ecological and evolutionary theories relating to nutrient availability and leads us to: the assessment of theories about limitation of productivity and the integration of CO2 into the co-limitation paradigm; the prediction of community composition and of change in communities from known changes in the environment; and evaluation of the potential for evolutionary adaptation in conditions that increase growth.
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