The effects of coastal acidification on the growth and toxicity of the saxitoxin-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense were examined in culture and ecosystem studies. In culture experiments, Alexandrium strains isolated from Northport Bay NY, USA, and the Bay of Fundy, Canada, grew significantly faster (16 -190%; p<0.05) when exposed to elevated levels of pCO2 (~ 800- 1900μatm) compared to lower levels (~390μatm). Exposure to higher levels of pCO2 also resulted in significant increases (71 – 81%) in total cellular toxicity (fg STX eq. cell−1) in the Northport Bay strain, while no changes in toxicity were detected in the Bay of Fundy strain. The positive relationship between pCO2 enhancement and elevated growth was reproducible using natural populations from Northport; Alexandrium densities were significantly and consistently enhanced when natural populations were incubated at 1500 μatm pCO2, a value at the upper range of those recorded in Northport Bay, 390 – 1500 µatm. During natural Alexandrium blooms in Northport Bay, pCO2 concentrations increased over the course of a bloom to more than 1700μatm and were highest in regions with the greatest Alexandrium abundances, suggesting Alexandrium may be further exacerbating acidification or be especially adapted to these extreme, acidified conditions. The co-occurrence of Alexandrium blooms and elevated pCO2 represents a previously unrecognized, compounding environmental threat to coastal ecosystems. The ability of elevated pCO2 to enhance the growth and toxicity of Alexandrium indicates that acidification promoted by eutrophication or climate change can intensify these, and perhaps other, harmful algal blooms.

Climate change processes are warming, acidifying, and promoting a reduction of plankton biomass within World oceans. While the effects of these stressors on marine fish have been studied individually, their combined and interactive impacts remain unclear. Here we present experiments investigating the interactive effects of increased pCO 2, temperature, and food-limitation on the early life history traits of two species of marine schooling fish native to Northeast US estuaries, Menidia beryllina (inland silverside) and Cyprinodon variegatus (sheepshead minnow). While each stressor significantly altered hatching times, growth rates, and/or survival of fish, significant interactions between stressors resulted in impacts that could not have been predicted based upon exposures to individual stressors. Fish that were unaffected by high pCO 2 when reared at ideal temperatures experienced significant declines in survivorship when exposed to elevated pCO 2 at temperatures above or below their thermal optimum. Similarly, fish provided with less food were more vulnerable to elevated pCO 2 than fish provided with adequate nutrition. These findings highlight the significance of incorporating multiple stressors in studies investigating the impacts of climate change stressors on marine life. Collectively, these results suggest that climate change stressors may interact to synergistically suppress the productivity of fisheries in coastal ecosystems and that these effects may intensify as climate changes continue.

We examined biological, chemical, and physical processes controlling the onset and demise of the winter–spring bloom in the third largest US estuary, Long Island Sound (LIS), during 2010 and 2011. The spring bloom in LIS initiated in the absence of thermal stratification and peaked in early February when water temperatures were at an annual minimum (≤1.0°C). Bloom initiation occurred when phytoplankton cellular growth exceeded zooplankton grazing and bloom demise occurred as temperatures rose and grazing exceeded algal growth. During the bloom collapse, nutrients were drawn down by >90% and the phytoplankton community was nutrient limited. A highly significant (r2 = 0.81, p = 0.001), multivariate linear regression model using the percentage of primary production consumed daily by zooplankton and dissolved silicate concentrations hind‐casted the timing and magnitude of the bloom within 10% of observed values each year. Mesocosm experiments performed during the winter–spring bloom demonstrated that higher seawater temperatures (+3.0°C) increased zooplankton densities and grazing rates and decreased phytoplankton biomass. The winter–spring bloom in LIS was controlled by the interaction of phytoplankton growth and zooplankton grazing but not thermal stratification. Phytoplankton growth and zooplankton grazing were, in turn, influenced by nutrient availability and temperature. Continued climatic warming may lessen the intensity of the winter–spring bloom in this and other ecosystems in the future.

A large number of coastal ecosystems globally are subjected to concurrent hypoxic and acidified conditions that will likely intensify and expand with continued climate change. In temperate regions, the spawning of many important organisms including the Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus occurs during the summer months when the severity of coastal hypoxia and acidification is the greatest. While the blue crab earliest larval stage can be exposed to co-occurring hypoxia and acidification observed in many coastal ecosystems, the effects of these concurrent stressors on larval blue crab survival is unknown. This study investigated the individual and combined consequences of low dissolved oxygen (DO) and low pH on blue crab larvae survival through a series of short-term experiments. During 14-day experiments with moderately hypoxic conditions (117–127 μM O2 or 3.74–4.06 mg L-1) and acidified conditions (pH on total scale of 7.16–7.33), low DO and low pH individually and significantly reduced larval survival by 60% and 49%, respectively, with the combination of stressors reducing survival by 87% compared to the control treatment (210–269 μM O2 or 6.72–8.61 mg L-1, 7.91–7.94 DO and pH, respectively). During 4-day experiments with lower DO levels (68–83 μM O2 or 2.18–2.62 mg L-1) and comparable pH levels of 7.29–7.39, low DO individually reduced survival by >90% compared to the control (261–267 μM O2 or 8.35–8.54 mg L-1, 7.92–7.97 DO and pH, respectively), whereas low pH had no effect and there was no interaction between stressors. Over a 4-day period, the DO threshold at which 50% of the larval blue crab population died (LC50) was 121 μM O2 (3.86 mgL-1). In 14-day experiments, the DO and pH effects were additive, yielding survival rates lower than the individual treatments, and significantly correlated with DO and pH concentrations. Collectively, these findings indicate that blue crab sensitivity to both low DO and low pH are acute within the larval stage, depend on the intensity and duration of exposure, and leads to mortality, thereby potentially contributing to the interannual variability and possible regional declines of this fishery.