Calcification rate of pteropods dropped 28 percent at pH levels projected for 2100. This result supports the concern for the future of pteropods in a high-CO2 world, as well as of those species dependent upon them as a food resource. (Laboratory study)
When larvae of Mediterranean pteropods were cultured in pH 7.82 water, they had malformations and less shell growth. At pH 7.51, the larvae did not make shells but survived and showed normal development. In a natural setting, the smaller shells or lack of shells would have both ecological and biogeochemical ...
Although pteropods are able to build shells at low aragonite saturation state, the production of their shell appears to be very sensitive to decreased pH. (Laboratory study)
Increased CO2 and temperature acted together to increase the growth of algal turfs, which produced twice as much biomass and covered four times as much space. Experimental removal of algal turfs led to greater establishment of young kelp. The findings suggest that ocean acidification and warming could potentially cause a ...
Adult copepods living in acidified water had lower egg production and hatching success. (Laboratory study)
Health of Atlantic halibut may be affected by moderate ocean acidification—by itself and combined with warmer temperatures.
This study used Earth system models to examine how four of the major stressors of ocean ecosystems—warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and changes in primary productivity—may evolve over the 21st century.
Normally, common periwinkles produce thicker shells in the presence of crab predators. This study found that they did not do so when living in acidified seawater for 15 days. The snails apparently compensated for their lack of defensive shell-building by moving more to avoid the crabs. In a ...
When scientists collected pteropods living in the Southern Ocean, where high levels of CO2 caused low availability of calcium carbonate in the water for building shells, they found that the pteropods' shells had severely dissolved. In the laboratory, pteropods incubated under similar CO2 conditions had equivalent levels of dissolution. ...
Studies in Italy and in the Chesapeake Bay, USA, found that seagrasses lost phenolics, which protect against grazing and disease, when living in high CO2/low pH conditions. The findings suggest that seagrassses may be vulnerable to higher grazing rates under ocean acidification.
