Seawater carbonate chemistry and processes during experiments with crabs Chionoecetes tanneri and Cancer magister, 2007

• Main Authors: Pane, Eric F, Barry, J P
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2007
• Subjects: Acid-base regulation; Alkalinity; total; Animalia; Apparent pK; Aragonite saturation state; Arthropoda; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Calcite saturation state; Calculated; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Cancer magister; Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide solubility; Chionoecetes tanneri; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); Deep-sea; EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; EXP; Experiment; Experimental treatment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Haemolymph; carbon dioxide tension; Infrared gas analyzer; IRGA Li-Cor1 6262; Laboratory experiment; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); PB_07; pH; Electrode; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas; Salinity; Single species; Antarc*; Antarctic; Ocean acidification; Sea ice; Tanner crab
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.721883; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.721883

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide could be curbed by large-scale sequestration of CO2 in the deep sea. Such a solution requires prior assessment of the impact of hypercapnic, acidic seawater on deep-sea fauna. Laboratory studies were conducted to assess the short-term hypercapnic tolerance of the deep-sea Tanner crab Chionoecetes tanneri, collected from 1000 m depth in Monterey Canyon off the coast of central California, USA. Hemolymph acid- base parameters were monitored over 24 h of exposure to seawater equilibrated with ~1% CO2 (seawater PCO2 ~6 torr or 0.8 kPa, pH 7.1), and compared with those of the shallow-living Dungeness crab Cancer magister. Short-term hypercapnia-induced acidosis in the hemolymph of Chionoecetes tanneri was almost uncompensated, with a net 24 h pH reduction of 0.32 units and a net bicarbonate accumulation of only 3 mM. Under simultaneous hypercapnia and hypoxia, short-term extracellular acidosis in Chionoecetes tanneri was completely uncompensated. In contrast, Cancer magister fully recovered its hemolymph pH over 24 h of hypercapnic exposure by net accumulation of 12 mM bicarbonate from the surrounding medium. The data support the hypothesis that deep-sea animals, which are adapted to a stable environment and exhibit reduced metabolic rates, lack the short-term acid-base regulatory capacity to cope with the acute hypercapnic stress that would accompany large-scale CO2 sequestration. Additionally, the data indicate that sequestration in oxygen-poor areas of the ocean would be even more detrimental to deep-sea fauna.