Experimental influence of pH on the early life-stages of sea urchins II: increasing parental exposure times gives rise to different responses

Little is known of the capacity that marine metazoans have to evolve under rapid p CO 2 changes. Consequently, we reared a marine polychaete, Ophryotrocha labronica, previously cultured for approximately 33 generations under a low/variable pH regime, under elevated and low p CO 2 for six generations. The strain used was found to be tolerant to elevated p CO 2 conditions. In generations F1 and F2 females’ fecundity was significantly lower in the low p CO 2 treatment. However, from generation F3 onwards there were no differences between p CO 2 treatments, indicating that trans‐generational effects enabled the restoration and maintenance of reproductive output. Whilst the initial fitness recovery was likely driven by trans‐generational plasticity (TGP), the results from reciprocal transplant assays, performed using F7 individuals, made it difficult to disentangle between whether TGP had persisted across multiple generations, or if evolutionary adaptation had occurred. Nonetheless, both are important mechanisms for persistence under climate change. Overall, our study highlights the importance of multi‐generational experiments in more accurately determining marine metazoans’ responses to changes in p CO 2, and strengthens the case for exploring their use in conservation, by creating specific p CO 2 tolerant strains of keystone ecosystem species.

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“…; Suckling et al. ), as previously discussed. Within‐generation acclimation can refer to both nonpermanent responses (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…; Suckling et al. ). Furthermore, the majority of trans‐generational experiments have been restricted across one, or maximum two, generations leaving it unclear whether or not adaptive TGP can extend into future generations allowing time for evolutionary adaptation to catch up (Chevin et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO₂

Rodríguez‐Romero

Jarrold

N’Siala

et al. 2015

Evolutionary Applications

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“…Our results suggest that unless exposure balances out differences in sensitivity, warming could disproportionately impact younger life stages, making this an even more pronounced bottleneck in population dynamics (O Donnell et al 2009, Findlay et al , Russell et al ). Future studies would ideally investigate the physiological and ecological mechanisms of persistence across life stages, including potential for acclimation, adaptation and migration (Sorte et al , , Suckling et al , , Parker et al , Samani and Bell ), to predict the impacts of climate change on marine invertebrate species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The weakest link: sensitivity to climate extremes across life stages of marine invertebrates

Pandori

Sorte

2018

Oikos

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Predicting the effects of climate change on Earth's biota becomes even more challenging when acknowledging that most species have life cycles consisting of multiple stages, each of which may respond differently to extreme environmental conditions. There is currently no clear consensus regarding which stages are most susceptible to increasing environmental stress, or ‘climate extremes’. We used a meta‐analytic approach to quantify variation in responses to environmental stress across multiple life stages of marine invertebrates. We identified 287 experiments in 29 papers which examined the lethal thresholds of multiple life stages (embryo, larva, juvenile and adult) of both holoplanktonic and meroplanktonic marine invertebrates subjected to the same experimental conditions of warming, acidification and hypoxia stress. Most studies considered short acute exposure to stressors. We calculated effect sizes (log response ratio) for each life stage (unpaired analysis) and the difference in effect sizes between stages of each species (paired analysis) included in each experiment. In the unpaired analysis, all significant responses were negative, indicating that warming, acidification and hypoxia tended to increase mortality. Furthermore, embryos, larvae and juveniles were more negatively affected by warming than adults. The paired analysis revealed that, when subjected to the same experimental conditions, younger life stages were more negatively affected by warming than older life stages, specifically among pairings of adults versus juveniles and larvae versus embryos. Although responses to warming are well documented, few studies of the effects of acidification and hypoxia met the criteria for inclusion in our analyses. Our results suggest that while most life stages will be negatively affected by climate change, younger stages of marine invertebrates are more sensitive to extreme heating events.

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“…Studies published since the AR5 have expanded on the longer-term responses to ocean acidification and have found that transgenerational and evolutionary responses can partly mitigate adverse effects, for example, in phytoplankton (75), planktonic crustaceans (76), sea urchins (77), and fish (78).…”

Section: Ocean Acidificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO ₂ emissions scenarios

Gattuso

Magnan

Billé

et al. 2015

Science

1,103

827

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The ocean moderates anthropogenic climate change at the cost of profound alterations of its physics, chemistry, ecology, and services. Here, we evaluate and compare the risks of impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems—and the goods and services they provide—for growing cumulative carbon emissions under two contrasting emissions scenarios. The current emissions trajectory would rapidly and significantly alter many ecosystems and the associated services on which humans heavily depend. A reduced emissions scenario—consistent with the Copenhagen Accord's goal of a global temperature increase of less than 2°C—is much more favorable to the ocean but still substantially alters important marine ecosystems and associated goods and services. The management options to address ocean impacts narrow as the ocean warms and acidifies. Consequently, any new climate regime that fails to minimize ocean impacts would be incomplete and inadequate.

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Experimental influence of pH on the early life-stages of sea urchins II: increasing parental exposure times gives rise to different responses

Abstract: 18Many studies into the responses of early life-stages to ocean acidification utilise offspring

Cited by 53 publications

References 54 publications

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO₂

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO₂

The weakest link: sensitivity to climate extremes across life stages of marine invertebrates

Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO ₂ emissions scenarios

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Experimental influence of pH on the early life-stages of sea urchins II: increasing parental exposure times gives rise to different responses

Abstract: 18Many studies into the responses of early life-stages to ocean acidification utilise offspring

Cited by 53 publications

References 54 publications

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO2

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO2

The weakest link: sensitivity to climate extremes across life stages of marine invertebrates

Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO 2 emissions scenarios

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO₂

Multi‐generational responses of a marine polychaete to a rapid change in seawater pCO₂

Contrasting futures for ocean and society from different anthropogenic CO ₂ emissions scenarios