Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Global change is affecting marine ecosystems through a combination of different stressors such as warming, ocean acidification and oxygen depletion. Very little is known about the interactions among these factors, especially with respect to gelatinous zooplankton. Therefore, in this study we investigated the direct effects of pH, temperature and oxygen availability on the moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita, concentrating on the ephyral life stage. Starved one-day-old ephyrae were exposed to a range of pCO2 (400–4000 ppm) and three different dissolved oxygen levels (from saturated to hypoxic conditions), in two different temperatures (5 and 15 °C) for 7 days. Carbon content and swimming activity were analysed at the end of the incubation period, and mortality noted. General linearized models were fitted through the data, with the best fitting models including two- and three-way interactions between pCO2, temperature and oxygen concentration. The combined effect of the stressors was small but significant, with the clearest negative effect on growth caused by the combination of all three stressors present (high temperature, high CO2, low oxygen). We conclude that A. aurita ephyrae are robust and that they are not likely to suffer from these environmental stressors in a near future.
Keywords:
Activity description; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Aurelia aurita; Behaviour; Bicarbonate ion; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (〈20 L); Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon content per individual; Carbon dioxide; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Dry mass per individual; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Identification; Laboratory experiment; Mortality; Mortality/Survival; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Oxygen; Oxygen saturation; Oxygen saturation, standard deviation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; pH, standard deviation; Registration number of species; Salinity; Sample code/label; Single species; Species; Temperate; Temperature; Temperature, water; Treatment; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Zooplankton
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 6723 data points
