A mesocosm experiment was conducted to quantify the effects of medium term (5 wk) exposure to acidified seawater on the structure of Nereis virens (Polychaeta) burrows and sediment nutrient fluxes. Worms were exposed to seawater acidified to a pH of 7.3, 6.5 or 5.6 using carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. These treatments mimicked ...

Seaweeds are key species of the Baltic Sea benthic ecosystems. They are the substratum of numerous fouling epibionts like bryozoans and tubeworms. Several of these epibionts bear calcified structures and could be impacted by the high pCO2 events of the late summer upwellings in the Baltic nearshores. Those events are expected ...

Energy availability and local adaptation are major components in mediating the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on marine species. In a long-term study, we investigated the effects of food availability and elevated pCO2 (ca. 400, 1000 and 3000 μatm) on growth of newly settled Amphibalanus (Balanus) improvisus to reproduction, and on their offspring. We also ...

Increased levels of atmospheric CO2 are anticipated to cause decreased seawater pH. Despite the fact that calcified marine invertebrates are particularly susceptible to acidification, barnacles have received little attention. We examined larval condition, cyprid size, cyprid attachment and metamorphosis, juvenile to adult growth, shell calcium carbonate content, and shell resistance to ...

Using CO2 perturbation experiments, we examined the pre- and post-settlement growth responses of a dominant biofouling tubeworm (Hydroides elegans) to a range of pH. In three different experiments, embryos were reared to, or past, metamorphosis in seawater equilibrated to CO2 values of about 480 (control), 980, 1,480, and 2,300 latm ...

Ocean acidification is a pervasive stressor that could affect many marine organisms and cause profound ecological shifts. A variety of biological responses to ocean acidification have been measured across a range of taxa, but this information exists as case studies and has not been synthesized into meaningful comparisons amongst response ...

Ocean acidification represents a threat to marine species worldwide, and forecasting the ecological impacts of acidification is a high priority for science, management, and policy. As research on the topic expands at an exponential rate, a comprehensive understanding of the variability in organisms' responses and corresponding levels of certainty is ...

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) is being absorbed into the ocean, altering seawater chemistry, with potentially negative impacts on a wide range of marine organisms. The early life stages of invertebrates with internal and external aragonite structures may be particularly vulnerable to this ocean acidification. Impacts to cephalopods, which form aragonite ...

Oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) is altering the seawater chemistry of the world’s oceans with consequences for marine biota. Elevated partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) is causing the calcium carbonate saturation horizon to shoal in many regions, particularly in high latitudes and regions that intersect with pronounced hypoxic ...