Seawater carbonate chemistry and pteropod Limacina helicina antarctica shell dissolution during experiments, 2012

• Main Authors: Bednaršek, Nina, Tarling, Geraint A, Bakker, Dorothee C E, Fielding, Sophie, Cohen, Anne L, Kuzirian, Alan, McCorkle, Daniel C, Lézé, Bertrand, Montagna, Roberto
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2012
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; standard deviation; Animalia; Antarctic; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (<20 L); Calcification/Dissolution; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; partial pressure; Coulometric titration; Dissolution rate; EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; Experimental treatment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Individuals; non-dissolving; standard-deviation; Laboratory experiment; Limacina helicina antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Limacina helicina; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.779926; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.779926

Anthropogenic ocean acidification is likely to have negative effects on marine calcifying organisms, such as shelled pteropods, by promoting dissolution of aragonite shells. Study of shell dissolution requires an accurate and sensitive method for assessing shell damage. Shell dissolution was induced through incubations in CO2 enriched seawater for between 4 and 14 days. We describe a procedure that allows the level of dissolution to be assessed and classified into three main types: Type I with partial dissolution of the prismatic layer; Type II with exposure of underlying crossed-lamellar layer, and Type III, where crossed-lamellar layer shows signs of dissolution. Levels of dissolution showed a good correspondence to the incubation conditions, with the most severe damage found in specimens held for 14 d in undersaturated condition (Ohm ~ 0.8). This methodology enables the response of small pelagic calcifiers to acidified conditions to be detected at an early stage, thus making pteropods a valuable bioindicator of future ocean acidification.