Abstract

As an effect of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing. Understanding how this will affect marine organisms and ecosystems are critical in predicting the impacts of this ongoing ocean acidification. Work on coral reef fishes has revealed dramatic effects of elevated oceanic CO2 on sensory responses and behavior. Such effects may be widespread but have almost exclusively been tested on tropical reef fishes. Here we test the effects elevated CO2 has on the reproduction and early life history stages of a temperate coastal goby with paternal care by allowing goby pairs to reproduce naturally in an aquarium with either elevated (ca 1400 μatm) CO2 or control seawater (ca 370 μatm CO2). Elevated CO2 did not affect the occurrence of spawning nor clutch size, but increased embryonic abnormalities and egg loss. Moreover, we found that elevated CO2 significantly affected the phototactic response of newly hatched larvae. Phototaxis is a vision-related fundamental behavior of many marine fishes, but has never before been tested in the context of ocean acidification. Our findings suggest that ocean acidification affects embryonic development and sensory responses in temperate fishes, with potentially important implications for fish recruitment.

Highlights

  • The anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is a major environmental concern

  • Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

  • Our results revealed strong negative effects of elevated CO2 on embryonic development and egg loss

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Summary

Introduction

The anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is a major environmental concern. One alarming consequence is a rapid change in seawater chemistry and decrease of ocean pH (Solomon et al 2007; Doney et al 2009), which could have large impacts on marine ecosystems, and pose a threat to marine life (Kerr 2010; Pelejero et al 2010). Current evidence suggests a range of biological effects in marine organisms, and considerable variation in the sensitivity to changes in oceanic CO2 between and within major taxa (Doney et al 2009; Kroeker et al 2010). The variable responses among species and taxa are suggestive of ecosystem effects, but we are currently far from being able to predict how increased CO2 affects marine communities (Kerr 2010).

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