Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Sites with naturally high CO2 conditions provide unique opportunities to forecast the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems to ocean acidification, by studying the biological responses and potential adaptations to this increased environmental variability. In this study, we investigated the bivalve Ervilia castanea in coastal sandy sediments at reference sites and at volcanic CO2 seeps off the Azores, where the pH of bottom waters ranged from average oceanic levels of 8.2, along gradients, down to 6.81, in carbonated seawater at the seeps. The bivalve population structure changed markedly at the seeps. Large individuals became less abundant as seawater CO2 levels rose and were completely absent from the most acidified sites. In contrast, small bivalves were most abundant at the CO2 seeps. We propose that larvae can settle and initially live in high abundances under elevated CO2 levels, but that high rates of post-settlement dispersal and/or mortality occur. Ervilia castanea were susceptible to elevated CO2 levels and these effects were consistently associated with lower food supplies. This raises concerns about the effects of ocean acidification on the brood stock of this species and other bivalve molluscs with similar life history traits.
Keywords:
Abundance per area; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard error; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard error; Ash mass; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Bicarbonate ion, standard error; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcite saturation state; Calcite saturation state, standard error; Calcium carbonate; Calcium carbonate, standard error; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard error; Carbon, organic, total; Carbon, organic, total, standard error; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio; Carbon/Nitrogen ratio, standard error; Carbonate ion; Carbonate ion, standard error; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Chlorophyll a; Chlorophyll a, standard error; CO2 vent; Coast and continental shelf; DATE/TIME; Dry mass; Ervilia castanea; Event label; EXP; Experiment; Faial; Field observation; Fucoxanthin; Fucoxanthin, standard error; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Granulometry; Granulometry, standard error; Hydroxide ion; Hydroxide ion, standard error; Identification; LATITUDE; LONGITUDE; Mollusca; Nitrogen, total; Nitrogen, total, standard error; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Organic matter; Organic matter, standard error; Other studied parameter or process; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air), standard error; Percentage; pH; pH, standard error; Pigments; Pigments, standard error; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Registration number of species; Replicate; Salinity; Salinity, standard error; Sample code/label; Sao_Miguel; Single species; Site; Size; Species; Temperate; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard error; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 5812 data points
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