How will intertidal species adapt to worsening ocean acidification?
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2019-02-20 11:01
Natural tidal cycles need to be considered to predict the impacts of climate change on species living in intertidal zones, say international researchers. For intertidal species such as mussels, the changes in tides influence their physiological and behaviour. However, there are now unprecedented changes to tides with climate change, including ocean acidification which already impacting intertidal species. Understanding how species are coping with current scenarios is needed to be able to predict their response to further changes to their environment.
Journal/conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Link to research (DOI): 10.1098/rspb.2018.2863
Organisation/s: University of Exeter, UK
Media Release
From: The Royal Society
Acid-base physiology over tidal periods in the mussel Mytilus edulis: size and temperature are more influential than seawater pH
Many of the important marine invertebrates that we expect to be negatively impacted by climate change and ocean acidification live in the intertidal zone, where they already experience changing environmental conditions over tidal cycles. Here we demonstrate that mussels already experience some of the effects predicted for future ocean acidification when the tide is out, and that higher air temperature and larger mussel size strongly influence this response, whilst seawater chemistry had a much smaller relative effect. Our data highlights the need to take natural tidal cycles into account when predicting climate change impacts for these species.
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