Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by the world's oceans is causing mankind's 'other CO2 problem', ocean acidification. Although this process will challenge marine organisms that synthesize calcareous exoskeletons or shells, it is unclear how it will affect internally calcifying organisms, such as marine fish. Adult fish tolerate short-term exposures to CO2 levels that exceed those predicted for the next 300 years (~2,000 ppm), but potential effects of increased CO2 on growth and survival during the early life stages of fish remain poorly understood. Here we show that the exposure of early life stages of a common estuarine fish (Menidia beryllina) to CO2 concentrations expected in the world's oceans later this century caused severely reduced survival and growth rates. When compared with present-day CO2 levels (~400 ppm), exposure of M. beryllina embryos to ~1,000 ppm until one week post-hatch reduced average survival and length by 74% and 18%, respectively. The egg stage was significantly more vulnerable to high CO2-induced mortality than the post-hatch larval stage. These findings challenge the belief that ocean acidification will not affect fish populations, because even small changes in early life survival can generate large fluctuations in adult-fish abundance.
Keywords:
Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard deviation; Bicarbonate ion; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (〈20 L); Calcite saturation state; Calcite saturation state, standard deviation; Calculated; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard deviation; Carbonate ion; Carbonate ion, standard deviation; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide, partial pressure, standard deviation; Chordata; Coast and continental shelf; EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; Experimental treatment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Growth/Morphology; Identification; Laboratory experiment; Measured; Menidia beryllina; Menidia beryllina, length; Menidia beryllina, length, standard devitation; Mortality/Survival; Nekton; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; pH, standard deviation; pH meter (Orion); Salinity; Salinity, standard deviation; Sample ID; Single species; Survival; Temperate; Temperature, standard deviation; Temperature, water
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 1887 data points
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