Saharan dust inputs and high UVR levels jointly alter the metabolic balance of marine oligotrophic ecosystems Cabrerizo, Marco J. Medina Sánchez, Juan Manuel González-Olalla, Juan Manuel Villar Argáiz, Manuel Carrillo Lechuga, Presentación Bioma Earth Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) Atmospheric dust Marine oligotrophic ecosystems Mediterranean Sea Marine Plankton Climatic changes Atmospheric carbon dioxide The metabolic balance of the most extensive bioma on the Earth is a controversial topic of the global-change research. High ultraviolet radiation (UVR) levels by the shoaling of upper mixed layers and increasing atmospheric dust deposition from arid regions may unpredictably alter the metabolic state of marine oligotrophic ecosystems. We performed an observational study across the south-western (SW) Mediterranean Sea to assess the planktonic metabolic balance and a microcosm experiment in two contrasting areas, heterotrophic nearshore and autotrophic open sea, to test whether a combined UVR × dust impact could alter their metabolic balance at mid-term scales. We show that the metabolic state of oligotrophic areas geographically varies and that the joint impact of UVR and dust inputs prompted a strong change towards autotrophic metabolism. We propose that this metabolic response could be accentuated with the global change as remote-sensing evidence shows increasing intensities, frequencies and number of dust events together with variations in the surface UVR fluxes on SW Mediterranean Sea. Overall, these findings suggest that the enhancement of the net carbon budget under a combined UVR and dust inputs impact could contribute to boost the biological pump, reinforcing the role of the oligotrophic marine ecosystems as CO2 sinks. 2016-12-13T13:47:19Z 2016-12-13T13:47:19Z 2016 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Cabrerizo, M.J.; et al. Saharan dust inputs and high UVR levels jointly alter the metabolic balance of marine oligotrophic ecosystems. Scientific Report, 6: 35892 (2016). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/43875] 2045-2322 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/43875 10.1038/srep35892 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Nature Publishing Group