by Jennifer Fields
Ocean acidification is known to have an impact on the calcified structure of many marine invertebrates. However, there is recent evidence to suggest that ocean acidification also impacts other key biological processes, such as survival, growth, and behavior. Manríquez et al. (2013) observed the impacts of ocean acidification on shell growth, survival, metabolism, and self-righting ability of a marine gastropod. The authors found there was no significant impact of ocean acidification on net shell growth, survival, or metabolism; however, increased CO2 resulted in faster self-righting times in the marine gastropod. Faster self-righting behavior can reduce the duration of vulnerability to predators and chance of being dislodged by waves of intertidal gastropods. The behavior could be a positive consequence of ocean acidification on marine invertebrates that use a turnover response as a common trait for avoid predation and wave removal. This adaptive trait could induce a co-evolution between predator and prey that would alter predator-prey dynamics within the whole intertidal ecosystem. Continue reading