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Ocean acidification (OA), from seawater uptake of anthropogenic CO2, has a suite of negative effects on the ability of marine invertebrates to produce and maintain their skeletons. Increased organism pCO2 causes hypercapnia, an energetically costly physiological stress. OA alters seawater carbonate chemistry, limiting the carbonate available to form the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals used to build skeletons. The reduced saturation state of CaCO3 also causes corrosion of CaCO3 structures. Global change is also accelerating coastal acidification driven by land-run off (e.g. acid soil leachates, tannic acid). Building and maintaining marine biomaterials in the face of changing climate will depend on the balance between calcification and dissolution. Overall, in response to environmental acidification, many calcifiers produce less biomineral and so have smaller body size. Studies of skeleton development in echinoderms and molluscs across life stages show the stunting effect of OA. For corals, linear extension may be maintained, but at the expense of less dense biomineral. Conventional metrics used to quantify growth and calcification need to be augmented by characterisation of the changes to biomineral structure and mechanical integrity caused by environmental acidification. Scanning electron microscopy and microcomputed tomography of corals, tube worms and sea urchins exposed to experimental (laboratory) and natural (vents, coastal run off) acidification show a less dense biomineral with greater porosity and a larger void space. For bivalves, CaCO3 crystal deposition is more chaotic in response to both ocean and coastal acidification. Biomechanics tests reveal that these changes result in weaker, more fragile skeletons, compromising their vital protective roles. Vulnerabilities differ among taxa and depend on acidification level. Climate warming has the potential to ameliorate some of the negative effects of acidification but may also make matters worse. The integrative morphology-ecomechanics approach is key to understanding how marine biominerals will perform in the face of changing climate.
Figure 1. Equations for the mechanisms of acidification from CO2-OA and other forms of environmental acidification for example from acid sulphate soil leachates. Modified from Fitzer et al. (2018).
Figure 2. A schematic representation of the use of SEM-EBSD as an analytical tool to assess the effects of acidification on shell microstructure. (A) M. edulis has been a focal study species to understand the impacts of OA on marine biomineral. (B) Section imaged using SEM is a cross section through a shell grown under OA (pHNBS 7.5). (C) The same section imaged using EBSD and analysed for crystallographic orientation displayed as a crystallographic orientation map. (D) Calcite and (E) aragonite crystals at higher magnification from the same cross section of the M. edulis shell. (F) Disordered microstructure of the calcite layer and (G) dissolution of the aragonite tablets (edges more rounded compared to panel E and tablets are less tightly packed) of the shells grown in OA. Images adapted from Fitzer et al. (2014a).
Figure 3. Crystallographic orientation maps with accompanying pole figures for the calcite and aragonite shell of M. edulis (A, D), and the calcite shells of Magallana angulata (B, E) and Saccostrea glomerata (C, F) grown at pH 8.1NBS and pHNBS 7.5 under CO2 acidfication and sulphate soil acidification. The figures highlight the similarly altered crystallographic orientation of the mussel and oyster shells with increased disorder at pH 7.5. This is highlighted by the increased range of crystallographic orientation shown by the increased variation of colours. The colours here represent a change in the angle of crystallographic orientation as per the calcite (0001) (G) and aragonite (001) (H) colour keys. Scale bars represent 5 μm for M. edulis, 45 μm for M. angulata and 200 μm for S. glomerata. Adapted from Fitzer et al. (2014a, 2018) and Meng et al. (2018).
Figure 4. SEM of the surface of the apical test plates of the adult sea urchin, Heliocidaris erythrogramma maintained in control (pHNBS 8.1) (A) and decreased pH (pHNBS 7.6) (B) for 9Â months. The skeleton formed in the OA treatment has thinner calcite. Images courtesy of Ms R. Johnson.
Figure 5. SEM of juvenile Heliocidaris erythrogramma reared in four pH and three temperature levels in all combinations for 14 days. Urchins had shorter spines and smaller tests at pHNBS 7.4 (see Wolfe et al. 2013b). At control pH (A, E) the arrows point to the terminal spike which is the calcite growing region of the spines compared with the flat-ended spines of juveniles reared in pHNBS 7.4 indicating retarded or no calcification. Images courtesy of Dr K Wolfe.
Figure 6. SEM of the spines of juvenile Heliocidaris erythrogramma reared in four pH and three temperature levels in all combinations for 14 days. The arrows point to the pointed end of the spines in control pHNBS 8.1 (A, E) at the calcite growing region. At pHNBS 7.4 and at warmer temperature the spines were shorter, more porous, had blunt ends (D) and were eroded (H) (see Wolfe et al. 2013b). Images courtesy of Dr K Wolfe.
Figure 7.
Tripneustes gratilla reared in three pH and three temperature levels in all combinations from the early juvenile (5.0 mm test diameter) for 146 days. Aâ+3°C warming mitigated the negative effects of low pHNBS (pH 7.6, 7.8), but further warming was deleterious. From Dworjanyn and Byrne (2018).
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