Upper environmental pCO2 drives sensitivity to ocean acidification in marine invertebrates

• Published in: Nature climate change 2022, Vol.12 (2), p.200-207
• Main Authors: Vargas, Cristian A., Cuevas, L. Antonio, Broitman, Bernardo R., San Martin, Valeska A., Lagos, Nelson A., Gaitán-Espitia, Juan Diego, Dupont, Sam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/158/2165; 704/106/829/827; 704/829/826; Acidification; Adaptation; Analysis; Biological traits; Buoy measurements; Buoys; carbon dioxide; Climate Change; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Climate Research; Coastal ecology; Deviation; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Habitats; invertebrate; Invertebrates; Klimatforskning; local adaptation; Local population; Marine biology; Marine invertebrates; meta-analysis; Natural variability; Ocean acidification; Oceans; Statistical analysis; Variability
• ISSN: 1758-678X; 1758-6798
• DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01269-2

Minimizing the impact of ocean acidification requires an understanding of species responses and environmental variability of population habitats. Whereas the literature is growing rapidly, emerging results suggest unresolved species- or population-specific responses. Here we present a meta-analysis synthesizing experimental studies examining the effects of p CO 2 on biological traits in marine invertebrates. At the sampling locations of experimental animals, we determined environmental p CO 2 conditions by integrating data from global databases and p CO 2 measurements from buoys. Experimental p CO 2 scenarios were compared with upper p CO 2 using an index considering the upper environmental p CO 2 . For most taxa, a statistically significant negative linear relationship was observed between this index and mean biological responses, indicating that the impact of a given experimental p CO 2 scenario depends on the deviation from the upper p CO 2 level experienced by local populations. Our results highlight the importance of local biological adaptation and the need to consider present p CO 2 natural variability while interpreting experimental results. The authors link the effects of pCO 2 on marine invertebrates to the localized pCO 2 conditions of their coastal habitats. They show that responses depend on the deviation from the locally experienced upper pCO 2 level, highlighting the importance of small-scale variability and adaptation.