Severe tissue damage in Atlantic cod larvae under increasing ocean acidification.

Frommel, Andrea, Maneja, Rommel, Lowe, David, Malzahn, Arne, Geffen, Audrey J., Folkvord, Arild, Piatkowski, Uwe , Reusch, Thorsten B.H. and Clemmesen, Catriona (2012) Severe tissue damage in Atlantic cod larvae under increasing ocean acidification. Nature Climate Change, 2 . pp. 42-46. DOI 10.1038/NCLIMATE1324.

[thumbnail of nclimate1324.pdf] Text
nclimate1324.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Registered users only

Download (1MB) | Contact
[thumbnail of nclimate1324-s1.pdf] Text
nclimate1324-s1.pdf - Supplemental Material
Restricted to Registered users only

Download (216kB) | Contact

Supplementary data:

Abstract

Ocean acidification, caused by increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 (refs 1, 2, 3), is one of the most critical anthropogenicthreats to marine life. Changes in seawater carbonate chemistry have the potential to disturb calcification, acid–base regulation, blood circulation and respiration, as well as the nervous system of marine organisms, leading to long-term effects such as reduced growth rates and reproduction4, 5. In teleost fishes, early life-history stages are particularly vulnerable as they lack specialized internal pH regulatory mechanisms6, 7. So far, impacts of relevant CO2 concentrations on larval fish have been found in behaviour8, 9 and otolith size10, 11, mainly in tropical, non-commercial species. Here we show detrimental effects of ocean acidification on the development of a mass-spawning fish species of high commercial importance. We reared Atlantic cod larvae at three levels of CO2, (1) present day, (2) end of next century and (3) an extreme, coastal upwelling scenario, in a long-term ( months) mesocosm experiment. Exposure to CO2 resulted in severe to lethal tissue damage in many internal organs, with the degree of damage increasing with CO2 concentration. As larval survival is the bottleneck to recruitment, ocean acidification has the potential to act as an additional source of natural mortality, affecting populations of already exploited fish stocks.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes; Atlantic cod larvae; ocean acidification
Research affiliation: OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB3 Marine Ecology > FB3-EV Marine Evolutionary Ecology
Kiel University
HZG
HGF-AWI
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Projects: BIOACID, EPOCA, Future Ocean
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2011 14:27
Last Modified: 23 Sep 2019 20:19
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/13017

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item