Seawater carbonate chemistry and benthic marine community during experiments, 2011 ...

• Main Authors: Kroeker, Kristy J, Micheli, Florenza, Gambi, Maria Cristina, Martz, Todd R
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2011
• Subjects: Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; CO2 vent; Coast and continental shelf; Community composition and diversity; Entire community; Field observation; Mediterranean Sea; Rocky-shore community; Temperate; Experimental treatment; Site; Salinity; Salinity, standard deviation; Temperature, water; Temperature, standard deviation; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard deviation; pH; pH, standard deviation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Carbon dioxide, partial pressure, standard deviation; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard deviation; Calcite saturation state; Calcite saturation state, standard deviation; Sample ID; Amphipoda; Gastropoda; Isopoda; Polychaeta; Decapoda; Sipuncula; Tanaidacea; Bivalvia; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Bicarbonate ion; Carbonate ion; Guildline autosal salinometer; Honeywell Durafet pH sensors; Potentiometric open-cell titration; Calculated using seacarb; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. 2010; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis EUR-OCEANS; European Project on Ocean Acidification EPOCA; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre OA-ICC; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.777433; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.777433

Ocean acidification is predicted to impact all areas of the oceans and affect a diversity of marine organisms. However, the diversity of responses among species prevents clear predictions about the impact of acidification at the ecosystem level. Here, we used shallow water CO2 vents in the Mediterranean Sea as a model system to examine emergent ecosystem responses to ocean acidification in rocky reef communities. We assessed in situ benthic invertebrate communities in three distinct pH zones (ambient, low, and extreme low), which differed in both the mean and variability of seawater pH along a continuous gradient. We found fewer taxa, reduced taxonomic evenness, and lower biomass in the extreme low pH zones. However, the number of individuals did not differ among pH zones, suggesting that there is density compensation through population blooms of small acidification-tolerant taxa. Furthermore, the trophic structure of the invertebrate community shifted to fewer trophic groups and dominance by generalists in ... : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Lavigne and Gattuso, 2011) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI). ...