High resolution microscopy reveals significant impacts of oc

Details of Research

TitleHigh resolution microscopy reveals significant impacts of ocean acidification and warming on larval shell development in Laternula ellipticaAbstractEnvironmental stressors impact marine larval growth rates, quality and sizes. Larvae of the Antarctic bivalve, Laternula elliptica, were raised to the D-larvae stage under temperature and pH conditions representing ambient and end of century projections (-1.6 deg C to +0.4 deg C and pH 7.98 to 7.65). Previous observations using light microscopy suggested pH had no influence on larval abnormalities in this species. Detailed analysis of the shell using SEM showed that reduced pH is in fact a major stressor during development for this species, producing D-larvae with abnormal shapes, deformed shell edges and irregular hinges, cracked shell surfaces and even uncalcified larvae. Additionally, reduced pH increased pitting and cracking on shell surfaces. Thus, apparently normal larvae may be compromised at the ultrastructural level and these larvae would be in poor condition at settlement, reducing juvenile recruitment and overall survival. Elevated temperatures increased prodissoconch II sizes. However, the overall impacts on larval shell quality and integrity with concurrent ocean acidification would likely overshadow any beneficial results from warmer temperatures, limiting populations of this prevalent Antarctic species. Copyright 2017 Bylenga et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.AcknowledgementsWe thank Rob Robbins and the USA dive team at McMurdo Station for L. elliptica collection and Antarctica New Zealand for their logistical support. We thank Neill Barr and Graeme Moss (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, NIWA) for their continual sup- port during set-up and maintenance of the experiment, Kim Currie and Judith Murdoch (NIWA/University of Otago Research Centre for Oceanography) for water chemistry analysis, Stefanie Menashe and Sonja Hempel (Victoria University of Wellington, VUW) for their valu- able assistance in the lab, and Dalice Sim and Lisa Woods (VUW School of Mathematics, Sta- tistics and Operations Research) for their assistance and advice. We also thank David Flynn (VUW School of Chemical and Physical Sciences) for his assistance with SEM.

Details

1st AuthorBylenga, C.AuthorBylenga, C.Cummings, V.Ryan, K.Year2017JournalPLoS ONEVolume12Number4DOI10.1371/journal.pone.0175706Keywordsrank5

Other

TypeArticleCitationBylenga, C., Cummings, V. and Ryan, K. (2017). High resolution microscopy reveals significant impacts of ocean acidification and warming on larval shell development in Laternula elliptica. PLoS ONE, 12(4) IdentifierBylenga2017Relevancerank5Antarctica NZ supported?YesNZARI?No