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Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics

Ocean acidification is causing severe changes in the inorganic carbon balance of the oceans. The pH conditions predicted for the future oceans are, however, already regularly occurring in the Baltic Sea, and the system might thus work as an analogue for future ocean acidification scenarios. The char...

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Autores principales: Jansson, Anna, Norkko, Joanna, Norkko, Alf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693962/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23840833
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068198
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author Jansson, Anna
Norkko, Joanna
Norkko, Alf
author_facet Jansson, Anna
Norkko, Joanna
Norkko, Alf
author_sort Jansson, Anna
collection PubMed
description Ocean acidification is causing severe changes in the inorganic carbon balance of the oceans. The pH conditions predicted for the future oceans are, however, already regularly occurring in the Baltic Sea, and the system might thus work as an analogue for future ocean acidification scenarios. The characteristics of the Baltic Sea with low buffering capacity and large natural pH fluctuations, in combination with multiple other stressors, suggest that OA effects may be severe, but remain largely unexplored. A calcifying species potentially affected by low pH conditions is the bivalve Macoma balthica (L.). We investigated larval survival and development of M. balthica by exposing the larvae to a range of pH levels: 7.2, 7.4, 7.7 and 8.1 during 20 days in order to learn what the effects of reduced pH are on the larval biology and thus also potentially for the population dynamics of this key species. We found that even a slight pH decrease causes significant negative changes during the larval phase, both by slowing growth and by decreasing survival. The growth was slower in all reduced pH treatments compared to the control treatment. The size of 250 µm that is considered indicative to imminent settling in our system was reached by 22% of the larvae grown in control conditions after 20 days, whereas in all reduced pH treatments the size of 250 µm was reached by only 7–14%. The strong impact of ocean acidification on larvae is alarming as slowly growing individuals are exposed to higher predation risk in response to the longer time they are required to spend in the plankton, further decreasing the ecological competence of the species.
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spelling pubmed-36939622013-07-09 Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics Jansson, Anna Norkko, Joanna Norkko, Alf PLoS One Research Article Ocean acidification is causing severe changes in the inorganic carbon balance of the oceans. The pH conditions predicted for the future oceans are, however, already regularly occurring in the Baltic Sea, and the system might thus work as an analogue for future ocean acidification scenarios. The characteristics of the Baltic Sea with low buffering capacity and large natural pH fluctuations, in combination with multiple other stressors, suggest that OA effects may be severe, but remain largely unexplored. A calcifying species potentially affected by low pH conditions is the bivalve Macoma balthica (L.). We investigated larval survival and development of M. balthica by exposing the larvae to a range of pH levels: 7.2, 7.4, 7.7 and 8.1 during 20 days in order to learn what the effects of reduced pH are on the larval biology and thus also potentially for the population dynamics of this key species. We found that even a slight pH decrease causes significant negative changes during the larval phase, both by slowing growth and by decreasing survival. The growth was slower in all reduced pH treatments compared to the control treatment. The size of 250 µm that is considered indicative to imminent settling in our system was reached by 22% of the larvae grown in control conditions after 20 days, whereas in all reduced pH treatments the size of 250 µm was reached by only 7–14%. The strong impact of ocean acidification on larvae is alarming as slowly growing individuals are exposed to higher predation risk in response to the longer time they are required to spend in the plankton, further decreasing the ecological competence of the species. Public Library of Science 2013-06-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3693962/ /pubmed/23840833 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068198 Text en © 2013 Jansson et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Jansson, Anna
Norkko, Joanna
Norkko, Alf
Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title_full Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title_fullStr Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title_short Effects of Reduced pH on Macoma balthica Larvae from a System with Naturally Fluctuating pH-Dynamics
title_sort effects of reduced ph on macoma balthica larvae from a system with naturally fluctuating ph-dynamics
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3693962/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23840833
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068198
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