Abstract
The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) leads to rising temperatures and acidification in the oceans, which directly or indirectly affects all marine organisms, from bacteria to animals. We here ask whether the simplest—and possibly also the oldest—metazoan animals, the placozoans, are particularly sensitive to ocean warming and acidification. Placozoans are found in all warm and temperate oceans and are soft‐bodied, microscopic invertebrates lacking any calcified structures, organs, or symmetry. We here show that placozoans respond highly sensitive to temperature and acidity stress. The data reveal differential responses in different placozoan lineages and encourage efforts to develop placozoans as a potential biomarker system.
Highlights
Global warming has been changing the phenology, abundance, and distribution of many taxa in marine and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Falkowski, 2012; Thackeray, Jones, & Maberly, 2008) and affects all living taxa on earth
We investigate the effects of temperature and acidity stress on placozoan reproduction and report strong and differential effects for both factors on the population growth rate (PGR) in different lineages of placozoans
Our experiments revealed strong and differential effects of both, temperature and pH, on the PGR of placozoans, with temperature showing the strongest effects
Summary
Global warming has been changing the phenology, abundance, and distribution of many taxa in marine and terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., Falkowski, 2012; Thackeray, Jones, & Maberly, 2008) and affects all living taxa on earth. For the potentially affected benthic marine invertebrates, very little data exist and more empirical data are urgently needed in order to better understand possible changes in marine benthic ecosystems (Chen, 2008; Törnroos et al, 2014). Animal populations may respond to shifting conditions in different ways, for example, expanding their ecological niche and/or by moving to a new habitat (Hinder et al, 2014). How such demographic processes will develop in the future has become a crucial question in many areas of ecological research. Empirical measures may include the use of sensitive biomarkers in long-term monitoring studies and promise to be more sensitive and possibly more reliable (cf. Feindt, Fincke, & Hadrys, 2014; Hadrys et al, 2005; Hardege et al, 2011; Schroth, Ender, & Schierwater, 2005)
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