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Early reproductive stages in the crustose coralline alga Phymatolithon lenormandii are strongly affected by mild ocean acidification

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Abstract

Coralline algae (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) are predicted to be negatively impacted by near-future ocean acidification. The effect of low pH/high pCO2 on early life stages of Phymatolithon lenormandii (Areschoug) Adey was studied in a perturbation experiment. Several parameters including mortality, calcification (calcein staining) and development (growth and abnormalities) have been monitored for a month under experimental conditions ranging from pHT = 8.00 (pCO2 = 398 μatm) and pHT = 7.55 (pCO2 = 1,261 μatm). Our results demonstrate that survival and development of P. lenormandii early life stages can be impacted by small pH changes (ΔpH < −0.1 pH unit). A negative impact of decreasing pH was observed including an increased mortality and a higher rate of abnormalities. Growth and calcification were still observed at the lowest pH (ΔpH = −0.45). Growth rate was similar at all tested pH, but the maintenance of the skeleton under low pH was only possible through a persistent dynamic dissolution/calcification process, an energetically costly mechanism potentially draining resources from other vital processes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to Prof. Mike Thorndyke and the two reviewers for excellent comments and suggestions on a previous version of this manuscript. This work was supported by an ASSEMBLE grant to FB. SD is funded by the Linnaeus Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology at the University of Gothenburg (http://www.cemeb.science.gu.se/) and supported by a Linnaeus grant from the Swedish Research Councils VR and Formas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Life Sciences Department, University of Trieste, Via L. Giorgieri, 10, 34127, Trieste, Italy

    F. Bradassi, F. Cumani & G. Bressan

  2. Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 45178, Kristineberg, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

    S. Dupont

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  1. F. Bradassi
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  2. F. Cumani
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  3. G. Bressan
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Correspondence to F. Bradassi or S. Dupont.

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Communicated by H.-O. Pörtner.

Fulvia Bradassi and Sam Dupont contributed equally to this manuscript.

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Bradassi, F., Cumani, F., Bressan, G. et al. Early reproductive stages in the crustose coralline alga Phymatolithon lenormandii are strongly affected by mild ocean acidification. Mar Biol 160, 2261–2269 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2260-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2260-2

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