Journal ArticleDOI
Adaptive evolution of a key phytoplankton species to ocean acidification
TLDR
It is suggested that contemporary evolution could help to maintain the functionality of microbial processes at the base of marine food webs in the face of global change.Abstract:
Oc ean acidification, the drop in seawater pH associated with the ongoing enrichment of marine waters with carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, may seriously impair marine calcifying organisms. Our present understanding of the sensitivity of marine life to ocean acidification is based primarily on short-term experiments, in which organisms are exposed to increased concentrations of CO2. However, phytoplankton species with short generation times, in particular, may be able to respond to environmental alterations through adaptive evolution. Here, we examine the ability of the world’s single most important calcifying organism, the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi, to evolve in response to ocean acidification in two 500-generation selection experiments. Specifically, we exposed E. huxleyi populations founded by single or multiple clones to increased concentrations of CO2. Around 500 asexual generations later we assessed their fitness. Compared with populations kept at ambient CO2 partial pressure, those selected at increased partial pressure exhibited higher growth rates, in both the single- and multiclone experiment, when tested under ocean acidification conditions. Calcification was partly restored: rates were lower under increased CO2 conditions in all cultures, but were up to 50% higher in adapted compared with non-adapted cultures. We suggest that contemporary evolution could help to maintain the functionality of microbial processes at the base of marine food webs in the face of global change.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms: quantifying sensitivities and interaction with warming
Kristy J. Kroeker,Rebecca L. Kordas,Ryan N. Crim,Iris E. Hendriks,Laura Ramajo,Laura Ramajo,Gerald S. Singh,Carlos M. Duarte,Carlos M. Duarte,Jean-Pierre Gattuso,Jean-Pierre Gattuso +10 more
TL;DR: The most comprehensive meta-analysis to date by synthesizing the results of 228 studies examining biological responses to ocean acidification reveals decreased survival, calcification, growth, development and abundance in response to acidification, and suggests that other factors, such as nutritional status or source population, could cause substantial variation in organisms' responses.
Journal ArticleDOI
Climate change, adaptation, and phenotypic plasticity: the problem and the evidence.
Juha Merilä,Andrew P. Hendry +1 more
TL;DR: Evidence for genetic adaptation to climate change has been found in some systems, but is still relatively scarce and it is clear that more studies are needed – and these must employ better inferential methods – before general conclusions can be drawn.
Journal ArticleDOI
Building coral reef resilience through assisted evolution
TL;DR: The risks and benefits of the improvement of natural and commercial stocks in noncoral reef systems are reviewed and a series of experiments are advocated to determine the feasibility of developing coral stocks with enhanced stress tolerance through the acceleration of naturally occurring processes, an approach known as (human)-assisted evolution.
Journal ArticleDOI
What is conservation physiology? Perspectives on an increasingly integrated and essential science†
Steven J. Cooke,Lawren Sack,Craig E. Franklin,Anthony P. Farrell,John Beardall,Martin Wikelski,Steven L. Chown +6 more
TL;DR: The definition of ‘conservation physiology’ is refined to be more inclusive, with an emphasis on characterizing diversity, understanding and predicting responses to environmental change and stressors, and generating solutions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Predicting evolutionary responses to climate change in the sea
TL;DR: Why an evolutionary perspective is crucial to understanding climate change impacts in the sea is emphasised and the various experimental approaches that can be used to estimate evolutionary potential are outlined, focusing on molecular tools, quantitative genetics, and experimental evolution.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg,Peter J. Mumby,Anthony J. Hooten,Robert S. Steneck,Paul F. Greenfield,Edgardo D. Gomez,C. D. Harvell,Peter F. Sale,Alasdair J. Edwards,Ken Caldeira,Nancy Knowlton,C. M. Eakin,Roberto Iglesias-Prieto,Nyawira A. Muthiga,Roger Bradbury,Alfonse M. Dubi,Marea E. Hatziolos +16 more
TL;DR: As the International Year of the Reef 2008 begins, scaled-up management intervention and decisive action on global emissions are required if the loss of coral-dominated ecosystems is to be avoided.
Journal ArticleDOI
Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms
James C. Orr,Victoria J. Fabry,Olivier Aumont,Laurent Bopp,Scott C. Doney,Richard A. Feely,Anand Gnanadesikan,Nicolas Gruber,Akio Ishida,Fortunat Joos,Robert M. Key,Keith Lindsay,Ernst Maier-Reimer,Richard J. Matear,Patrick Monfray,Anne Mouchet,Raymond G. Najjar,Gian-Kasper Plattner,Keith B. Rodgers,Christopher L. Sabine,Jorge L. Sarmiento,Reiner Schlitzer,Richard D. Slater,I. Totterdell,Marie-France Weirig,Yasuhiro Yamanaka,Andrew Yool +26 more
TL;DR: 13 models of the ocean–carbon cycle are used to assess calcium carbonate saturation under the IS92a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario for future emissions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and indicate that conditions detrimental to high-latitude ecosystems could develop within decades, not centuries as suggested previously.
Journal ArticleDOI
Oceanography: anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH.
Ken Caldeira,M. Wickett +1 more
TL;DR: It is found that oceanic absorption of CO2 from fossil fuels may result in larger pH changes over the next several centuries than any inferred from the geological record of the past 300 million years.
Journal ArticleDOI
Climate change and evolutionary adaptation
Ary A. Hoffmann,Carla M. Sgrò +1 more
TL;DR: The challenges to understand when evolution will occur and to identify potential evolutionary winners as well as losers, such as species lacking adaptive capacity living near physiological limits can be met through realistic models of evolutionary change linked to experimental data across a range of taxa.
Journal ArticleDOI
Impact of Anthropogenic CO2 on the CaCO3 System in the Oceans
Richard A. Feely,Christopher L. Sabine,Kitack Lee,William M. Berelson,Joanie Kleypas,Victoria J. Fabry,Frank J. Millero +6 more
TL;DR: The in situ CaCO3 dissolution rates for the global oceans from total alkalinity and chlorofluorocarbon data are estimated, and the future impacts of anthropogenic CO2 on Ca CO3 shell–forming species are discussed.
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Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms
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