Food supply confers calcifiers resistance to ocean acidification

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Ramajo, Laura, Pérez-León, Elia, Hendriks, Iris E., Marbà, Núria, Krause-Jensen, Dorte, Sejr, Mikael K., Blicher, Martin E., Lagos, Nelson A., Olsen, Ylva S., Duarte, Carlos M.
• Other Authors: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division, Marine Science Program, Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Global Change Department, Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), C/ Miquel Marqués 21, 07190 Esporles, Islas Baleares, Spain, Centro de Investigación e Innovación para el Cambio Climático (CiiCC), Universidad Santo Tomás, Avda. Ejército 146, 8370003 Santiago, Chile, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600 Silkeborg, Denmark, Arctic Research Centre, Bioscience, Aarhus University, C. F. Møllers Allé 8, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark, Greenland Climate Research Centre, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Kivioq 2 P.O. Box 570, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland, Plant Biology and The UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2016
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/594359; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19374

Invasion of ocean surface waters by anthropogenic CO2 emitted to the atmosphere is expected to reduce surface seawater pH to 7.8 by the end of this century compromising marine calcifiers. A broad range of biological and mineralogical mechanisms allow marine calcifiers to cope with ocean acidification, however these mechanisms are energetically demanding which affect other biological processes (trade-offs) with important implications for the resilience of the organisms against stressful conditions. Hence, food availability may play a critical role in determining the resistance of calcifiers to OA. Here we show, based on a meta-analysis of existing experimental results assessing the role of food supply in the response of organisms to OA, that food supply consistently confers calcifiers resistance to ocean acidification.