Seawater carbonate chemistry and the valve gaping response of adult eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica

• Main Authors: Clements, Jeff C, Comeau, Luc A, Carver, Claire E, Mayrand, Élise, Plante, Sébastien, Mallet, Andre L
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2018
• Subjects: Animalia; Behaviour; Benthic animals; Benthos; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria 20-1000 L or < 1 m**2; Crassostrea virginica; Laboratory experiment; Mollusca; North Atlantic; Single species; Temperate; Temperature; Type; Species; Registration number of species; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Trait; Experiment; Day of experiment; Treatment; Gape opening; Time in hours; Chlorophyll a; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard deviation; Salinity; Salinity, standard deviation; pH; pH, standard deviation; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard deviation; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide, standard deviation; Bicarbonate ion; Bicarbonate ion, standard deviation; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard deviation; Calcite saturation state; Calcite saturation state, standard deviation; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Carbonate ion; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. 2010; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre OA-ICC; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.924521; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.924521

While many studies document effects of elevated pCO2 on coastal organisms, the environmental variability characteristic of coastal regions is often not directly tested. We tested for effects of elevated pCO2 on the valve gaping activity of adult eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in response to acute heat shock that can occur in nearshore shallow coastal waters. In two consecutive experimental trials, oysters (n = 4) wired with Hall Effect biosensors (that measured valve gaping at one-second intervals) were exposed for 10 days at six different pCO2 treatments spanning a range currently observed in nearshore coastal regions, and predicted under near-future ocean acidification. After the 10-day acclimation period, oysters from each pCO2 treatment were exposed to a 3-h heat shock assay (11-12 to 30 °C) and valve gaping activity was monitored continuously. During the heat shock assays, valve gaping activity increased with increasing temperature and then ceased when temperature was reduced back to 11-12 °C; however, these valve gaping rate increases during heat shock were not characteristic of overly-stressed oysters. Exposure to elevated pCO2 had no effect on the valve gaping response of oysters to acute heat shock. Our results suggest that the valve gaping responses of adult eastern oysters to acute temperature increases are unaffected by short-term elevations in seawater pCO2. Future studies incorporating the roles of local adaptation, food availability, and direct functional consequences of valve gaping (e.g. physiological rates, predator avoidance, response to environmental toxins) are warranted. : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Gattuso et al, 2020) 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). The date of carbonate chemistry calculation by seacarb is 2020-10-30.