Impact of aragonite saturation state changes on migratory pteropods

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Main Authors: Comeau, Steeve, Gattuso, Jean-Pierre, Nisumaa, Anne-Marin, Orr, James
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Modelling the Earth Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Interactions and Dynamics (MERMAID), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA))
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Arctic; Limacina helicina; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03205262; https://hal.science/hal-03205262/document; https://hal.science/hal-03205262/file/rspb.2011.0910.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0910

International audience Thecosome pteropods play a key role in the food web of various marine ecosystems and they calcify, secreting the unstable CaCO 3 mineral aragonite to form their shell material. Here, we have estimated the effect of ocean acidification on pteropod calcification by exploiting empirical relationships between their gross calcification rates (CaCO 3 precipitation) and aragonite saturation state Ω a , combined with model projections of future Ω a . These were corrected for modern model-data bias and taken over the depth range where pteropods are observed to migrate vertically. Results indicate large reductions in gross calcification at temperate and high latitudes. Over much of the Arctic, the pteropod Limacina helicina will become unable to precipitate CaCO 3 by the end of the century under the IPCC SRES A2 scenario. These results emphasize concerns over the future of shelled pteropods, particularly L. helicina in high latitudes. Shell-less L. helicina are not known to have ever existed nor would we expect them to survive. Declines of pteropod populations could drive dramatic ecological changes in the various pelagic ecosystems in which they play a critical role.