Data from: Ocean acidification during pre-fertilization chemical communication affects sperm success ...

• Main Authors: Lymbery, Rowan, Kennington, Jason, Cornwall, Christopher, Evans, Jonathan
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2020
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvf2; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvf2

Ocean acidification (OA) poses a major threat to marine organisms, particularly during reproduction when externally shed gametes are vulnerable to changes in seawater pH. Accordingly, several studies on OA have focused on how changes in seawater pH influence sperm behaviour and/or rates of in vitro fertilization. By contrast, few studies have examined how pH influences pre-fertilization gamete interactions, which are crucial during natural spawning events in most externally fertilizing taxa. One mechanism of gamete interaction that forms an important component of fertilization in most taxa is communication between sperm and egg-derived chemicals. These chemical signals, along with the physiological responses in sperm they elicit, are likely to be highly sensitive to changes in seawater chemistry. In this study, we experimentally tested this possibility using the blue mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, a species in which females have been shown to use egg-derived chemicals to promote the success of sperm from ... : These data contain fertilization success scores from gametes of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, following sperm chemotaxis trials in two different seawater pH treatments (ambinet and experimentally lowered pH). They also contain seawater carbonate chemostry measurements (pH on the total scale and total alkalinity) from each batch of seawater at each treatment. ...