Abstract
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are making the oceans more acidic. In the last 150 years, fossil fuel burning has caused the pH of the oceans to fall by 0.1 units - a seemingly small change, but one that is equivalent to a 30% increase in acidity. By the year 2100 it is reliably estimated that oceanic pH will be ~ 0.4 units lower than at present (equivalent to a 3x increase in acidity). The impacts of this change have barely begun to be understood, however it is clear that many species will have extreme difficulty in forming the calcareous skeletons and shells that are essential for their survival. Alarmingly, very few studies have investigated the effects of these changes on coastal marine ecosystems, and the data that do exist suggest that delicate early life-history stages such as fertilization and larval development may be particularly susceptible. This project will assess the impacts of an up to 0.4 pH unit decrease in ocean pH on the fertilization success and larval development of key ecosystem-structuring species of marine invertebrate in Swedish coastal waters. The results will facilitate the parameterisation of predictive models regarding the impacts of ocean acidification on the resilience, dynamics and integrity of Swedish coastal ecosystems. This can, in turn, inform future strategies for the management and conservation of our marine environment, and the ecosystem services it provides.
Sweden