Highlights • Spatial and temporal variation in estuarine acidification cause severe biological responses. • Extreme low saturation state and duration of exposure cause pteropod shell dissolution. • Changing estuarine conditions cause cumulative stress that was used to generate stress index. • Compensatory mechanisms allow pelagic calcifiers to persist in extreme
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An integrated field-laboratory investigation of the effects of low oxygen and pH on North Pacific krill (Euphausia pacifica)
Krill are abundant and ecologically important zooplankton that inhabit dynamic environments characterized by strong natural variability, but global ocean change is shifting the range of conditions that they experience. Laboratory tests reveal that krill are sensitive to ocean acidification despite residing in naturally low pH areas, showing the importance of
Pteropods make thinner shells in the upwelling region of the California Current ecosystem
Shelled pteropods are widely regarded as bioindicators for ocean acidification, because their fragile aragonite shells are susceptible to increasing ocean acidity. While short-term incubations have demonstrated that pteropod calcification is negatively impacted by ocean acidification, we know little about net calcification in response to varying ocean conditions in natural populations.
Gene expression patterns of red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) exposed to different combinations of temperature and pCO2 during early development
Background The red sea urchin Mesocentrotus franciscanus is an ecologically important kelp forest herbivore and an economically valuable wild fishery species. To examine how M. franciscanus responds to its environment on a molecular level, differences in gene expression patterns were observed in embryos raised under combinations of two temperatures (13 °C or 17 °C) and two pCO2 levels
Drivers of biogeochemical variability in a central California kelp forest: implications for local amelioration of ocean acidification
Kelp forests are among the world’s most productive marine ecosystems, and they have the potential to locally ameliorate ocean acidification (OA). In order to understand the contribution of kelp metabolism to local biogeochemistry, we must first quantify the natural variability and the relative contributions of physical and biological drivers to