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Relative sensitivity of soft-bottom intertidal macrofauna to increased CO2 and experimental stress

2014; Inter-Research; Volume: 509; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3354/meps10861

1616-1599

Pedro Range, Marta Martins, Sara Cabral, David Piló, Radhouan Ben‐Hamadou, Maria Alexandra Teodósio, Francisco Leitão, Teresa Drago, Ana Paula Oliveira, Domitília Matias, Luis Chı́charo,

Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 509:153-170 (2014) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10861 Relative sensitivity of soft-bottom intertidal macrofauna to increased CO2 and experimental stress P. Range1,*, M. Martins2, S. Cabral2, D. Piló1,3, R. Ben-Hamadou1,4, M. A. Teodósio1, F. Leitão1, T. Drago3, A. P. Oliveira5, D. Matias3,6, L. Chícharo7 1Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal 2Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal 3Instituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera (IPMA), Av. 5 de Outubro, 8700-305 Olhão, Portugal 4Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar 5Instituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera (IPMA), Av. Brasília, 1449-006 Lisbon, Portugal 6CIIMAR – Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Rua dos Bragas 177, 4050-123 Porto, Portugal 7Centro de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIMA) Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal *Corresponding author: prange@ualg.pt ABSTRACT: We used a controlled CO2 perturbation experiment to test hypotheses about changes in diversity, composition and structure of soft-bottom intertidal macrobenthic assemblages, under realistic and locally relevant scenarios of seawater acidification. Patches of undisturbed sediment were collected from 2 types of intertidal sedimentary habitat in the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon (South Portugal) and exposed to 2 levels of seawater acidification (pH reduced by 0.3 and 0.6 units) and 1 unmanipulated (control) level. After 75 d the assemblages differed significantly between the 2 types of sediment and between field controls and the ex situ treatments, but not among the 3 pH levels tested. The naturally high values of total alkalinity buffered seawater from the changes imposed on carbonate chemistry and may have contributed to offsetting acidification at the local scale. Observed differences on biota were strongly related to the organic matter content and grain-size of the sediments, particularly to the fractions of medium and coarse sand. Soft-bottom intertidal macrofauna was significantly affected by the stress of being held in an artificial environment, but not by CO2-induced seawater acidification. Given the previously observed variations in the sensitivities of marine organisms to seawater acidification, direct extrapolations of the present findings to different regions or other types of assemblages do not seem advisable. However, the contribution of ex situ studies to the assessment of ecosystem-level responses to environmental disturbances could generally be improved by incorporating adequate field controls in the experimental design. KEY WORDS: Carbon dioxide · Global change · Ocean acidification · Mesocosms · Arthropoda · Annelida · Mollusca · Coastal ecosystems Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Range P, Martins M, Cabral S, Piló D and others (2014) Relative sensitivity of soft-bottom intertidal macrofauna to increased CO2 and experimental stress. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 509:153-170. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10861 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 509. Online publication date: August 27, 2014 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2014 Inter-Research.