Ocean Acidification Increases Copper Toxicity to the Early Life History Stages of the Polychaete Arenicola marina in Artificial Seawater

Abstract

The speciation and therefore bioavailability of the common pollutant copper is predicted to increase within the pH range anticipated under near-future ocean acidification (OA), hence the potential exists for copper toxicity to marine organisms to also increase. We investigated the impact of OA (seawater pH values of 7.77 (pCO2 1400 μatm) and 7.47 (pCO2 3000 μatm)) upon copper toxicity responses in early life history stages of the polychaete Arenicola marina and found both synergistic and additive toxicity effects of combined exposures depending on life history stage. The toxicity of copper on sperm DNA damage and early larval survivorship was synergistically increased under OA conditions. Larval survival was reduced by 24% when exposed to both OA and copper combined compared to single OA or copper exposures. Sperm motility was negatively affected by both OA and copper singularly with additive toxicity effects of the two stressors when combined. Fertilization success was also negatively affected by both OA and copper individually, but no additive effects when exposed as combined stressors were present for this stage. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that OA will act to increase the toxicity of copper to marine organisms, which has clear implications for coastal benthic ecosystems suffering chronic metal pollution as pCO2 levels rise and drive a reduction in seawater pH.

The effects of water acidification, temperature and salinity on the regenerative capacity of the polychaete Diopatra neapolitana

“…Another study carried out with larvae of Arenicola marina submitted at different pH levels (8.28, 7.77, 7.47) also reported that pH decrease negatively affected the fertilization success. The same authors also stated that larval survival was reduced when exposed to pH 7.77 during 5 days (Campbell et al, 2014). Concerning to the temperature results, from the present work it is possible to conclude that the regenerative ability increases significantly with the increase of temperature, both in terms of number of days needed to achieve full regeneration as in the number of chaetigers regenerated, regenerating faster and more chaetigers with the increase of temperature.…”

“…As a result of human activity, the atmospheric CO 2 concentrations increased from 280 ppmv in 1750 (pre-industrials atmospheric CO 2 levels) to over 391 ppmv in 2011 (IPCC, 2013), corresponding to a reduction of 0.1 units in the oceans pH (Caldeira and Wickett, 2003;IPCC, 2013), and it is expected that pH will further decrease from 0.06 to more than 0.3 units within the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2013). Several studies revealed that the pH decrease, associated with changes in seawater chemistry, seem to have negative effects on marine ecosystems, namely on bivalves, crustaceans and fish survival capacity, physiology, growth, reproductive capacity, behaviour and development (among others, Campbell et al, 2014;Doney et al, 2012;Dupont and P€ ortner, 2013;Garrard et al, 2013;Lane et al, 2013;Langenbuch and P€ ortner, 2003;Langenbuch et al, 2006;Michaelidis et al, 2005;Widdicombe and Spicer, 2008;Wickens, 1984). Additionally, reproductive capacity may also be affected by water acidification (Widdicombe and Spicer, 2008).…”

“…Nevertheless, few studies have used these organisms to assess the impacts of climate change (e.g. Basallote et al, 2012;Batten and Bamber, 1996;Campbell et al, 2014;Grilo et al, 2011;Lane et al, 2013;Lercari et al, 2002;Salen-Picard et al, 2003;Schelegel et al, 2014).…”

Alleviation of mercury toxicity to a marine copepod under multigenerational exposure by ocean acidification

“…Recently, several studies have focused on the impact of OA and metals such as cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) on marine animals 24–26 . OA is expected to modify the bioavailability of metals 27 .…”

Lethal and sub-lethal effects of elevated CO2 concentrations on marine benthic invertebrates and fish

“…In addition, the common metal contamination such as copper together with CO 2 exposure might stimulate the adverse effects to organisms, generally supporting a synergistic effect scenario (Campbell et al 2014). In the present study, Manila clams exhibited significant mortality and siphon releasing at pH 6.38 after exposure to a combination of copper (50 μg Cu L −1 ) and CO 2 (p < 0.05) (Fig.…”