Macroalgae may mitigate ocean acidification effects on mussel calcification by increasing pH and its fluctuations

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Wahl, M., Schneider Covachã, S., Saderne, Vincent, Hiebenthal, C., Müller, J. D., Pansch, C., Sawall, Y.
• Other Authors: Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean research; Kiel Germany, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research; Warnemuende Germany, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS); St. George's Bermuda
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/625147; https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10608

Ocean acidification (OA) is generally assumed to negatively impact calcification rates of marine organisms. At a local scale however, biological activity of macrophytes may generate pH fluctuations with rates of change that are orders of magnitude larger than the long-term trend predicted for the open ocean. These fluctuations may in turn impact benthic calcifiers in the vicinity. Combining laboratory, mesocosm and field studies, such interactions between OA, the brown alga Fucus vesiculosus, the sea grass Zostera marina and the blue mussel Mytilus edulis were investigated at spatial scales from decimetres to 100s of meters in the western Baltic. Macrophytes increased the overall mean pH of the habitat by up to 0.3 units relative to macrophyte-free, but otherwise similar, habitats and imposed diurnal pH fluctuations with amplitudes ranging from 0.3 to more than 1 pH unit. These amplitudes and their impact on mussel calcification tended to increase with increasing macrophyte biomass to bulk water ratio. At the laboratory and mesocosm scales, biogenic pH fluctuations allowed mussels to maintain calcification even under acidified conditions by shifting most of their calcification activity into the daytime when biogenic fluctuations caused by macrophyte activity offered temporal refuge from OA stress. In natural habitats with a low biomass to water body ratio, the impact of biogenic pH fluctuations on mean calcification rates of M. edulis was less pronounced. Thus, in dense algae or seagrass habitats, macrophytes may mitigate OA impact on mussel calcification by raising mean pH and providing temporal refuge from acidification stress. We wish to thank Björn Buchholz for technical support with the experimental set-up in the lab, Philipp Gremler for laboratory assistance and Jörn Thomsen for helpful advice in calcification issues. JDM received funding from the EU BONUS project PINBAL through Grant No. 03F0689A. Highly constructive comments and advice by two reviewers have substantially improved an earlier version of ...