Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae
Anthropogenic CO2 emissions cause a drop in seawater pH and shift the inorganic carbon speciation. Collectively, the term ocean acidification (OA) summarizes these changes. Few studies have examined OA effects on predatory plankton, e.g. Hydrozoa and fish larvae as well as their interaction in compl...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:798aa265f8434486a89a93ccf9ec7796 2023-05-15T17:50:19+02:00 Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae Carsten Spisla Jan Taucher Michael Sswat Hennrike Wunderow Peter Kohnert Catriona Clemmesen Ulf Riebesell 2022-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 https://doaj.org/article/798aa265f8434486a89a93ccf9ec7796 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 https://doaj.org/article/798aa265f8434486a89a93ccf9ec7796 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) climate change ocean acidification plankton hydrozoa fish larvae food web Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 2022-12-31T03:12:16Z Anthropogenic CO2 emissions cause a drop in seawater pH and shift the inorganic carbon speciation. Collectively, the term ocean acidification (OA) summarizes these changes. Few studies have examined OA effects on predatory plankton, e.g. Hydrozoa and fish larvae as well as their interaction in complex natural communities. Because Hydrozoa can seriously compete with and prey on other higher-level predators such as fish, changes in their abundances may have significant consequences for marine food webs and ecosystem services. To investigate the interaction between Hydrozoa and fish larvae influenced by OA, we enclosed a natural plankton community in Raunefjord, Norway, for 53 days in eight ≈ 58 m³ pelagic mesocosms. CO2 levels in four mesocosms were increased to ≈ 2000 µatm pCO2, whereas the other four served as untreated controls. We studied OA-induced changes at the top of the food web by following ≈2000 larvae of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) hatched inside each mesocosm during the first week of the experiment, and a Hydrozoa population that had already established inside the mesocosms. Under OA, we detected 20% higher abundance of hydromedusae staged jellyfish, but 25% lower biomass. At the same time, survival rates of Atlantic herring larvae were higher under OA (control pCO2: 0.1%, high pCO2: 1.7%) in the final phase of the study. These results indicate that a decrease in predation pressure shortly after hatch likely shaped higher herring larvae survival, when hydromedusae abundance was lower in the OA treatment compared to control conditions. We conclude that indirect food-web mediated OA effects drove the observed changes in the Hydrozoa – fish relationship, based on significant changes in the phyto-, micro-, and mesoplankton community under high pCO2. Ultimately, the observed immediate consequences of these changes for fish larvae survival and the balance of the Hydrozoa – fish larvae predator – prey relationship has important implications for the functioning of oceanic food webs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Norway Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change ocean acidification plankton hydrozoa fish larvae food web Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
climate change ocean acidification plankton hydrozoa fish larvae food web Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Carsten Spisla Jan Taucher Michael Sswat Hennrike Wunderow Peter Kohnert Catriona Clemmesen Ulf Riebesell Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
topic_facet |
climate change ocean acidification plankton hydrozoa fish larvae food web Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Anthropogenic CO2 emissions cause a drop in seawater pH and shift the inorganic carbon speciation. Collectively, the term ocean acidification (OA) summarizes these changes. Few studies have examined OA effects on predatory plankton, e.g. Hydrozoa and fish larvae as well as their interaction in complex natural communities. Because Hydrozoa can seriously compete with and prey on other higher-level predators such as fish, changes in their abundances may have significant consequences for marine food webs and ecosystem services. To investigate the interaction between Hydrozoa and fish larvae influenced by OA, we enclosed a natural plankton community in Raunefjord, Norway, for 53 days in eight ≈ 58 m³ pelagic mesocosms. CO2 levels in four mesocosms were increased to ≈ 2000 µatm pCO2, whereas the other four served as untreated controls. We studied OA-induced changes at the top of the food web by following ≈2000 larvae of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) hatched inside each mesocosm during the first week of the experiment, and a Hydrozoa population that had already established inside the mesocosms. Under OA, we detected 20% higher abundance of hydromedusae staged jellyfish, but 25% lower biomass. At the same time, survival rates of Atlantic herring larvae were higher under OA (control pCO2: 0.1%, high pCO2: 1.7%) in the final phase of the study. These results indicate that a decrease in predation pressure shortly after hatch likely shaped higher herring larvae survival, when hydromedusae abundance was lower in the OA treatment compared to control conditions. We conclude that indirect food-web mediated OA effects drove the observed changes in the Hydrozoa – fish relationship, based on significant changes in the phyto-, micro-, and mesoplankton community under high pCO2. Ultimately, the observed immediate consequences of these changes for fish larvae survival and the balance of the Hydrozoa – fish larvae predator – prey relationship has important implications for the functioning of oceanic food webs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carsten Spisla Jan Taucher Michael Sswat Hennrike Wunderow Peter Kohnert Catriona Clemmesen Ulf Riebesell |
author_facet |
Carsten Spisla Jan Taucher Michael Sswat Hennrike Wunderow Peter Kohnert Catriona Clemmesen Ulf Riebesell |
author_sort |
Carsten Spisla |
title |
Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
title_short |
Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
title_full |
Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
title_fullStr |
Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean Acidification Alters the Predator – Prey Relationship Between Hydrozoa and Fish Larvae |
title_sort |
ocean acidification alters the predator – prey relationship between hydrozoa and fish larvae |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 https://doaj.org/article/798aa265f8434486a89a93ccf9ec7796 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 https://doaj.org/article/798aa265f8434486a89a93ccf9ec7796 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.831488 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766157018388758528 |