Structural and functional vulnerability to elevated pCO2 in marine benthic communities

Adaptation and acclimatization to ocean acidification in marine ectotherms: anin situtransplant experiment with polychaetes at a shallow CO2vent system

“…Thus, it appears that both plasticity and adaptation may be key to prevent species' risk for extinction in the face of ongoing ocean acidification [118], and thus largely determine the fate of marine biodiversity. Nonetheless even within tolerant groups such as the Polychaeta, some species appear sensitive to elevated pCO 2 and at risk of extinction, as they are unable to cope with ocean acidification [43,45,[123][124][125]. Species extinction will cause shifts in community structure and functions, which may ultimately drive important changes in ecosystem functioning [125,126].…”

Can multi-generational exposure to ocean warming and acidification lead to the adaptation of life-history and physiology in a marine metazoan?

“…These two processes are on-going and are expected to worsen, with current predictions for sea surface warming ranging from +1.7 to +4.8°C and estimates for seawater pH varying between −0.07 and −0.32 pH units over this century (IPCC, 2014). Such changes are likely to have profound biological implications for species demography and biogeography (Cheung et al, 2009;Chen et al, 2011;Calosi et al, 2013;Queirós et al, 2015), which will in turn have severe consequences for the structure, dynamics and function of marine ecosystems (Solan et al, 2004;Hall-Spencer et al, 2008;Christen et al, 2013;Godbold and Solan, 2013). …”

Survival and settling of larval <i>Macoma balthica</i> in a large-scale mesocosm experiment at different <i>f</i>CO<sub>2</sub> levels

“…The major part of ocean acidification research has been conducted by studying the response of single species, with a few studies focusing on the interactions between a small number of species, whereas studies on intact communities have so far only rarely been conducted (but see e.g. work done at CO 2 vents by Hall-Spencer et al, 2008, or Kroeker et al, 2011, and previous/other mesocosm studies by Christen et al, 2013, andRiebesell et al, 2013b). For species such as M. balthica, a mesocosm setting provides an excellent platform to study the development and succession of pelagic early-life stages resulting in recruitment into the benthic system, which cannot be studied in a simple, smallscale aquarium experiment.…”

“…Future ocean acidification (OA), which includes changes in the inorganic carbon balance of the seawater coupled with a decrease in pH, is occurring at a rate faster than experienced in the geological past (Hönisch et al, 2012), and is expected to pose a major threat to marine ecosystems worldwide (Orr et al, 2005;Fabry et al, 2008). The sea surface pH is estimated to decrease by 0.4 units in the global open oceans by the year 2100 (Caldeira and Wickett, 2003), whereas many coastal areas already experience large pH fluctuations reaching to considerably lower pH levels than predicted for the near future (Blackford and Gilbert, 2007;Johnson et al, 2013). The multiple environmental stressors impacting coastal areas and the local processes that impact watersheds make the precise modelling of future pH levels exceedingly challenging for these areas (Borges and Gypens, 2010;Duarte et al, 2013).…”