Seawater carbonate chemistry and reproductive development,larval survival and larval size of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)

In North America, studies regarding effects of CO2-induced low pH in bivalve aquaculture are largely restricted to the US Pacific coast. Studies on species from the northwest Atlantic are lacking. Furthermore, information on the roles of intergenerational exposure and biological sex in bivalve respo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Clements, Jeff C, Carver, Claire E, Mallet, Martin A, Comeau, Luc A, Mallet, Andre L
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2020
Subjects:
Sex
pH
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.925914
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.925914
Description
Summary:In North America, studies regarding effects of CO2-induced low pH in bivalve aquaculture are largely restricted to the US Pacific coast. Studies on species from the northwest Atlantic are lacking. Furthermore, information on the roles of intergenerational exposure and biological sex in bivalve responses to low pH, particularly in an aquaculture-specific context, is scant. We tested if short-term (1 month) exposure to CO2-induced reductions in pHNBS affected the reproductive development of male and female eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) during hatchery-specific reproductive conditioning and whether maternal and/or paternal exposure influenced larval responses. Reduced pH (7.5–7.7) increased the rate of reproductive development in both males and females. There was no indication of intergenerational effects; adult pH conditions did not affect early larval development. In contrast, low pH conditions experienced by gametes during spawning, fertilization, and embryo incubation (48 h) resulted in higher larval survival (+6–8% from control), reduced shell height (−2 to 3 µm), and increased deformities (abnormal shell shape; +3–5%). We suggest that local adaptation to acidic land runoff may account for the positive effects of low pH observed in this study. Bioeconomic assessments are now needed to understand the implications of reduced pH on aquaculture operations in these regions of Atlantic Canada. : 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 2020-12-11.