Calcifying algae maintain settlement cues to larval abalone following algal exposure to extreme ocean acidification ...

• Main Authors: Potts, Donald C., Rogers-Bennett, Laura, O'Leary, Jennifer K., Barry, James P., Gabrielson, Paul W., Palumbi, Stephen R., Micheli, Fiorenza
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries 2017
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/42r9-4607; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/k0698d921

Ocean acidification (OA) increasingly threatens marine systems, and is especially harmful to calcifying organisms. One important question is whether OA will alter species interactions. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) provide space and chemical cues for larval settlement. CCA have shown strongly negative responses to OA in previous studies, including disruption of settlement cues to corals. In California, CCA provide cues for seven species of harvested, threatened, and endangered abalone. We exposed four common CCA genera and a crustose calcifying red algae, Peyssonnelia (collectively CCRA) from California to three pCO levels ranging from 419-2,013 µatm for four months. We then evaluated abalone (Haliotis rufescens) settlement under ambient conditions among the CCRA and non-algal controls that had been previously exposed to the pCO treatments. Abalone settlement and metamorphosis increased from 11% in the absence of CCRA to 45-69% when CCRA were present, with minor variation among CCRA genera. Though all CCRA ...