Effects of ocean acidification on growth, organic tissue and protein profile of the Mediterranean ­bryo­zoan Myriapora truncata

• Published in: Aquatic Biology
• Main Authors: C. Lombardi, S. Cocito, MC Gambi, F. Flach, PD Taylor, K. Keltie, A. Freer, M. Cusack, Cisterna, Barbara
• Other Authors: C., Lombardi, S., Cocito, Mc, Gambi, F., Flach, Pd, Taylor, K., Keltie, A., Freer, M., Cusack
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: ocean acidification; Bryozoa; organic tissue; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11562/783779; https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00376

The possible effects of ocean acidification on growth, organic tissue and protein profilein the bryozoan Myriapora truncata (Pallas, 1766) were studied in samples transplanted alonga gradient of different pH conditions in an area of natural volcanic CO2 vents at Ischia Island(Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). Living colonies from normal (mean pH 8.10), intermediate (pH 7.83) andlow (pH 7.32) pH sites were investigated after intervals of 34, 57 and 87 d of exposure. M. truncataformed new and complete zooids at the normal site, whereas at the intermediate and low pH sites,neither partial nor complete zooids were produced. After 34 d at intermediate and low pH conditions,the organic cuticle which envelops the skeleton increased in thickness when compared tonormal colonies, suggesting a protective role against dissolution of the high-Mg calcite skeleton.Significant changes in the protein profile and expression displayed by samples from intermediateand low pH conditions suggest that M. truncata makes an initial attempt to overcome the decreasein pH by up-regulating protein production but eventually, especially in the lowest pH condition,exhausts biochemical energy to maintain this rate of protein production, leading to eventualdeath.