Assessing the impact of increasing seawater temperature and acidity on marine organisms using ophiuroid brittlestars as an experimental model ...

• Main Author: WOOD, HANNAH LOUISE
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Plymouth 2009
• Subjects: Arctic; Kings Bay; Svalbard; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.24382/1828; https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/2388

Ocean acidification is a consequence of rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and, in tandem with increasing sea temperature, poses a significant threat to marine life. A series of mesocosm experiments have been conducted at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (Plymouth, UK) and the Kings Bay Marine Laboratory (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard) where ophiuroid brittlestars were used as a model to investigate the physiological response of marine organisms to ocean acidification and ocean warming. A 'whole organism' approach was adopted to elucidate the primary physiological responses, trade offs and conflicts that occurred. Three ophiuroid species of differing lifestyle and habitats were chosen to give an insight into how such factors influenced a species' response to ocean acidification and warming; the infaunal Amphiura filiformis, the epibenthic Ophiura ophiura, both temperate, and the Arctic epibenthic Ophiocten sericeum. There was a similar physiological response of metabolic upregulation across all ...