Seawater carbonate chemistry and mortality in the medusa stage of the cubozoan Carybdea xaymacana

• Main Authors: Chuard, Pierre J C, Johnson, Maggie Dorothy, Guichard, Frédéric
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; 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; Carybdea xaymacana; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); Experiment duration; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Individuals; Laboratory experiment; Mortality/Survival; North Atlantic; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Registration number of species; Salinity; Single species; Species; Temperature; water; standard deviation; Treatment; Tropical; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Zooplankton; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.911747; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.911747

Ocean pH is decreasing due to anthropogenic activities, and the consequences of this acidification on marine fauna and ecosystems are the subject of an increasing number of studies. Yet, the impact of ocean acidification (OA) on several abundant and ecologically important taxa, such as medusozoans, is poorly documented. To date there have been no studies on the effect of post-2050 OA projections on the medusa stage of jellyfish. As medusae represent the reproductive stage of cnidarians, negative impacts on adult jellyfish could severely impact the long-term survival of this group. Using a laboratory experiment, we investigated the effect of 2300 OA projections (i.e. pH of 7.5) on the mortality rate of the medusa-stage of the cubozoan species Carybdea xaymacana, compared to ambient seawater pH conditions (i.e. pH of 8.1). After a 12-h exposure to OA, C. xaymacana medusae suffered higher mortality rates compared to ambient conditions. This study represents the first evidence of the potential lethal effects of post-2050 OA projections on jellyfish. The higher metabolic rates of cubozoans compared to other cnidarians might make box jellyfish more vulnerable to OA. A decrease in the density of cnidarians could lead to harmful ecological events, such as algal blooms.