Global stressors, such as ocean acidification, constitute a rapidly emerging and significant problem for marine organisms, ecosystem functioning and services. The coastal ecosystems of the Humboldt Current System (HCS) off Chile harbour a broad physical-chemical latitudinal and temporal gradient with considerable patchiness in local oceanographic conditions. This heterogeneity may, in turn, modulate the specific tolerances of organisms to climate stress in species with populations distributed along this environmental gradient. Negative response ratios are observed in species models (mussels, gastropods and planktonic copepods) exposed to changes in the partial pressure of CO 2 (p CO2 ) far from the average and extreme p CO2 levels experienced in their native habitats. This variability in response between populations reveals the potential role of local adaptation and/or adaptive phenotypic plasticity in increasing resilience of species to environmental change. The growing use of standard ocean acidification scenarios and treatment levels in experimental protocols brings with it a danger that inter-population differences are confounded by the varying environmental conditions naturally experienced by different populations. Here, we propose the use of a simple index taking into account the natural p CO2 variability, for a better interpretation of the potential consequences of ocean acidification on species inhabiting variable coastal ecosystems. Using scenarios that take into account the natural variability will allow understanding of the limits to plasticity across organismal traits, populations and species.

Engineer species transform ecosystems due to their own growth, constitute an integral part of altered environments, and provide new habitats for other species, thus affecting biodiversity and the ecosystem. On rocky shores inside Antofagasta Bay (Northern Chile), the alien ascidian Pyura praeputialis, an engineer species, creates broad belts and dense 3-dimensional matrices that modify the intertidal habitat structure. In all, 116 species of macro-invertebrates and algae inhabit this habitat, compared with the 66 species inhabiting adjacent intertidal rocky shores which lack P. praeputialis. Of the 145 species recorded at the seascape scale (encompassing both mid-intertidal habitat), 55% were found exclusively in intertidal P. praeputialis matrices. Along the coastal gradient, patterns in β-diversity emerge due to the addition of a new set of species to the community inhabiting the P. praeputialis matrices and, to a lesser extent, from spatial turnover. We found differences in the shape of the species frequency distribution between the communities inhabiting the engineered and non-engineered mid-intertidal habitats. However, within the same habitat type, there was no difference in the species frequency distribution between functional groups. Occurrence of macro-algae was not affected by habitat type, but occurence of macro-invertebrates increased significantly in P. praeputialis matrices. P. praeputialis increases species richness at local and seascape scales by providing a novel mid-intertidal habitat which is used by mobile and vagile macro-invertebrates that otherwise would remain excluded from this intertidal level.KEY WORDS: Pyura praeputialis matrices · Ecosystem engineer · Intertidal seascapes · α-and β-diversity · Species frequency distribution · Northern ChileResale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher

Invasion of ocean surface waters by anthropogenic CO2 emitted to the atmosphere is expected to reduce surface seawater pH to 7.8 by the end of this century compromising marine calcifiers. A broad range of biological and mineralogical mechanisms allow marine calcifiers to cope with ocean acidification, however these mechanisms are energetically demanding which affect other biological processes (trade-offs) with important implications for the resilience of the organisms against stressful conditions. Hence, food availability may play a critical role in determining the resistance of calcifiers to OA. Here we show, based on a meta-analysis of existing experimental results assessing the role of food supply in the response of organisms to OA, that food supply consistently confers calcifiers resistance to ocean acidification.

Spatial and temporal variation in recruitment can be the leading determinant of population fluctuations in species with pelagic larval stages. Characterizing and identifying the causes of such variation is, therefore, necessary to understand population dynamics, and to develop conservation and management strategies. We examined spatial patterns in settlement and recruitment of the intertidal barnacles Jehlius cirratus, Notochthamalus scabrosus and Notobalanus flosculus, and their relationships with environmental variables operating at meso-(sea surface temperature, SST) and small (local topography) scales. Settlement and recruitment were studied over 6 mo at biweekly intervals at 16 sites along 120 km of coastline in central Chile. All species showed similar temporal patterns, with a peak in settlement and recruitment during austral spring. We decomposed the spatial patterns into their corresponding meso-scale trend (from a few to 10s of kilometers) and into their small-scale (site) residual variation. Recruitment of chthamaloid species was highly and positively correlated at meso-and small-scales, and the among-site rankings showed consistency of the spatial structure throughout the recruitment season. SST explained a significant fraction of the variance in recruitment of the chthamaloids at the meso-scale, and spatial analysis showed coincident decorrelation scales of about 35 km for SST and recruitment. In contrast, recruitment of balanoid species did not show a clear spatial structure, was not associated with meso-scale variation in SST, and local topography seemed to play a significant role in their settlement. Topographically modified upwelling dynamics over scales of 10s of kilometers is the most plausible factor shaping meso-scale variation in recruitment of chthamaloid barnacles, whereas settlement and recruitment of balanoid species seem more strongly influenced by processes acting at local scales. The spatial scale and structure of recruitment provide guidelines for the placement and spacing of protected areas in the region.

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The latitudinal gradient of species diversity is a widely recognized but poorly understood phenomenon. In marine systems, differences in dispersal abilities among species may pose an additional problem in identifying the processes that affect diversity. We compared latitudinal diversity gradients along two parallel continental coasts, the east and west coasts of South America, of two groups of Crustacea (Brachyura and Anomura), which exclusively exhibit planktonic development. We also evaluated the species-area and the energy-input hypotheses. Diversity decreased with increasing latitude for both groups in both oceans. Results suggest that the spatial structure of sea surface temperature (SST) explains diversity of both groups at large, but not small (< 5°), scales. Range size and latitude were not correlated. We hypothesize that SST differentially affects taxa with contrasting modes of development, influencing patterns of diversity. We suggest that developmental modes of marine organisms should be considered in future diversity analyses.

Nearshore circulation processes and local geomorphological patterns are thought to be important correlates of spatial variation in larval recruitment of benthic organisms. However, few studies have attempted to quantitatively separate their relative influences upon recruitment dynamics. Here we use 12 study sites spanning 250 km of the northern Chile upwelling ecosystem and the intertidal barnacles Jehlius cirratus and Notochthamalus scabrosus to examine the extent to which spatial variation in larval recruitment is related to environmental variability and how these relationships depend on spatial autocorrelation. We find that upwelling intensity and wind velocity are negatively related to larval recruitment while surface slicks showed a positive correlation. However, the pure effect of each environmental variable was lower than its combined effects. Taking spatial autocorrelation into account, we find that the spatially structured variation of upwelling dynamics, distance to upwelling fronts, wind velocity, and slick occurrence explained most of the variation in barnacle recruitment. Spatial variation in recruitment rates of barnacles showed a characteristic length scale of 60–70 km, similar to the scale estimated for the spatially structured variables (upwelling, wind velocity, and surface slicks). We find that conditions for the occurrence of surface slicks (as surrogates of internal waves activity) seem to operate across several sites, suggesting a meso‐ instead local‐scale influence over spatial variation in barnacle recruitment. Our results suggest that spatial variation in barnacle recruitment is modulated by the combined influence of several spatially structured nearshore processes operating at scales of 60–70 km and that spatial autocorrelation must be taken into account in the study of the recruitment–environment relationship. However, the influence of local and small‐scale factors on recruitment dynamics of benthic invertebrates should be interpreted cautiously.