Field development of Posidonia oceanica seedlings changes under predicted acidification conditions

• Published in: Marine Environmental Research
• Main Authors: Pansini, Arianna, Beca-Carretero, Pedro, Berlino, Manuel, Sarà, Gianluca, Stengel, Dagmar B., Stipcich, Patrizia, Ceccherelli, Giulia
• Other Authors: Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Università degli Studi di Sassari
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2023
• Subjects: Climate change; Fatty acid remodelling; Morphological variables; pH gradient; Ocean acidification; Seagrass; Cierva
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/332793; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.105946

11 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables Ocean acidification has been consistently evidenced to have profound and lasting impacts on marine species. Observations have shown seagrasses to be highly susceptible to future increased pCO2 conditions, but the responses of early life stages as seedlings are poorly understood. This study aimed at evaluating how projected Mediterranean Sea acidification affects the survival, morphological and biochemical development of Posidonia oceanica seedlings through a long-term field experiment along a natural low pH gradient. Future ocean conditions seem to constrain the morphological development of seedlings. However, high pCO2 exposures caused an initial increase in the degree of saturation of fatty acids in leaves and then improved the fatty acid adjustment increasing unsaturation levels in leaves (but not in seeds), suggesting a nutritional compound translocation. Results also suggested a P. oceanica structural components remodelling which may counteract the effects of ocean acidification but would not enhance seagrass seedling productivity This study has been funded by Italian Ministry of Education and Research PRIN 2017 (MHHWBN) “Marine Habitats restoration in a climate change-impaired Mediterranean Sea (MAHRES)” and facilitated by ERASMUS + Traineeship Programme support to A.P. during analysis of data in Botany and Plant Science at the University of Galway. PB-C acknowledges its postdoc fellowship supported by Juan de la Cierva Formacion and funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. GC acknowledges the support of NBFC to University of Sassari, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, PNRR, Missione 4, Componente 2, “Dalla ricerca all'impresa”, Investimento 1.4 Project CN00000033 Peer reviewed