The Impact of Long-Term (4 Months) Exposure to Low pH and Elevated Temperature on the Growth Rate of Gold Mollies’ (Poecilia Sphenops) Larvae

Abstract

Researchers in the marine ecosystem have documented the significant impacts that anthropogenic ocean acidification has on marine organisms. These include olfactory abilities in fish, impaired behavioral as well as physiological changes, including anti-predatory response leading to consequences in population dynamics and community structure. In this research, we endeavored to investigate and compare the growth rate of the gold mollies (Poecialia sphenops) larvae under a low pH of 5 water temperature of 28 O C, and a pH of 6.9 at a water temperature of 26 O conditions. The mollies larvae were weighed for four months (August, September, October, and November) and the data collected was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS). The analysis was a multivariate test for a more complete examination of data by looking at independent variables and their relationship to one another. There was no statistically significant difference in the growth rate in August (p-value 0.969) and September (p-value 0.286) between the larvae in aquarium A (experimental) and those in aquarium D (control) at the beginning of the experiment. But there was a statistically significant difference in the third (3) month (October) P-value = 0.007 and in the fourth month (4) (November) P-value = 0.004. The low pH of 5 impacted the growth rate of the Poecilia sphenops larvae while those in the control aquarium pH of 6.9 seemed to have not been affected and grew well.