ALBERT

Description: A discrete oceanographic time series including CTDO-casts, measurements of the carbonate chemistry (pH, TA, temperature, salinity), phytoplankton biomass and biological responses of a marine secondary producer. Environmental and biological assesment was conducted during 2015 in a year-round upwelling area of northen Chile (23°S), in the eastern South Pacific. Carbonate chemistry measurements were made according the Best practices in OA, and validated against reference material. A total of 24 surveys were conducted at two main frequencies, 7 days during the first six months and 20 days at the second ones.

Description: Weekly monitoring of hydrographic and carbonate system parameters were assessed in a year-round upwelling in conjunction with morphometric (body size) and physiological (ingestion and egg production) traits of a numerically dominant copepod species.

Description: Hydrographic and carbonate system variations were assessed during El Niño event in a permanent upwelling system of the Humbodt Current (Southeast Pacific Ocean) in 2015-2016 . Ninety nine (99) measurements corresponding to thirty three (33) nearshore surveys conducted in the year-round upwelling system off the Atacama Desert. Temperature and salinity CTD profiles were combined with discrete measurements of pH and total alkalinity, under quality control procedures. All measurements and observations were assessed at 10 m depth.

Description: Temperature, salinity, and pH, along with copepod traits were measured inter-daily (i.e., on average each 4 days) in an upwelling and temperate estuary in the coastal Southeast Pacific. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the phenotypic plasticity of local copepod populations to natural extreme low pH conditions. Temperature and salinity were measured with CTD (Ocean Seven 305 Plus in the estuary system, and SeaBird SBE19 Plus in the upwelling location). Samples for pH measurements were collected with an oceanographic bottle. pH was measured potentiometrically, and calibrated with Tris buffer at 25 °C. Adult females of the copepod species Acartia tonsa (Copepoda, Calanoidea) were sampled with a WP2 plankton net. Cephalothorax length was measured under a stereomicroscope. Egg production was estimated individually over 24 h incubation.

Description: The combined upwelling-El Niño (EN) event regulation of the numerically dominant Acartia tonsa (Crustacea, Copepoda) reproduction was examined in a year-round upwelling system (23°S) of the Humboldt Eastern Boundary Upwelling System (EBUS) during the EN 2015. A previous analysis of the environmental regulation of this system is extended here by considering complementary oceanographic information (sea level, stratification indexes) and additional reproductive traits, such as maximum (MaxEPR), median (MedianEPR) and prevalence of egg producing females over a period of six months. Furthermore, field minimum-maximum pH levels were reproduced in three 96-h incubation experiments conducted under variable salinity conditions to evaluate copepod mean EPR, egg size and hatching success. Supporting previous assertions, the warm-high salinity EN 2015 was observed in the study site separately from hydrographic conditions associated with upwelling to non-upwelling regimes. Analysis of similarity-distance (Distance based Linear Model (DistLM)) and normalized data (separate-slope comparison under a General Linear Model (GLM)) showed that reproductive traits were regulated by specific combinations of ambient conditions, and that this regulation was also sensitive to the prevailing hydrographic regime. Thus, upwelling to non-upwelling transitions changing the pH, and EN-associated salinity and stratification shifts, were significantly and strongly linked to almost all reproductive traits (DistLM). Slope comparison (GLM) indicated MaxEPR and MedianEPR variations also underlie the phenology, highlighting the relationship between pH and salinity with biological variations. In conjunction with experimental observations, the current study consistently suggests that pH-variations in the upwelling realm, and EN hydrographic perturbations might underpin responses of plankton populations to climate change in productive EBUS.

Description: Environmental transitions leading to spatial physical-chemical gradients are of ecological and evolutionary interest because they are able to induce variations in phenotypic plasticity. Thus, the adaptive variability to low-pH river discharges may drive divergent stress responses [ingestion rates (IR) and expression of stress-related genes such as Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and Ferritin] in the neritic copepod Acartia tonsa facing changes in the marine chemistry associated to ocean acidification (OA). These responses were tested in copepod populations inhabiting two environments with contrasting carbonate system parameters (an estuarine versus coastal area) in the Southern Pacific Ocean, and assessing an in situ and 96-h experimental incubation under conditions of high pressure of CO2 (PCO2 1200 ppm). Adaptive variability was a determining factor in driving variability of copepods' responses. Thus, the food-rich but colder and corrosive estuary induced a traits trade-off expressed as depressed IR under in situ conditions. However, this experience allowed these copepods to tolerate further exposure to high PCO2 levels better, as their IRs were on average 43% higher than those of the coastal individuals. Indeed, expression of both the Hsp70 and Ferritin genes in coastal copepods was significantly higher after acclimation to high PCO2 conditions. Along with other recent evidence, our findings confirm that adaptation to local fluctuations in seawater pH seems to play a significant role in the response of planktonic populations to OA-associated conditions. Facing the environmental threat represented by the inter-play between multiple drivers of climate change, this biological feature should be examined in detail as a potential tool for risk mitigation policies in coastal management arrangements.

Description: Climate change is expected to exacerbate upwelling intensity and natural acidification in Eastern Boundaries Upwelling Systems (EBUS). Conducted between January-September 2015 in a nearshore site of the northern Humboldt Current System directly exposed to year-round upwelling episodes, this study was aimed at assessing the relationship between upwelling mediated pH-changes and functional traits of the numerically dominant planktonic copepod-grazer Acartia tonsa (Copepoda). Environmental temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH, alkalinity, chlorophyll-a (Chl), copepod adult size, egg production (EP), and egg size and growth were assessed through 28 random oceanographic surveys. Agglomerative clustering and multidimensional scaling identified three main di-similitude nodes within temporal variability of abiotic and biotic variables: A) “upwelling”, B) “non-upwelling”, and C) “warm-acid” conditions. Nodes A and B represented typical features within the upwelling phenology, characterized by the transition from low temperature, oxygen, pH and Chl during upwelling to higher levels during non-upwelling conditions. However, well-oxygenated, saline and “warm-acid” node C seemed to be atypical for local climatology, suggesting the occurrence of a low frequency oceanographic perturbation. Multivariate (LDA and ANCOVA) analyses revealed upwelling through temperature, oxygen and pH were the main factors affecting variations in adult size and EP, and highlighted growth rates were significantly lower under node C. Likely buffering upwelling pH-reductions, phytoplankton biomass maintained copepod reproduction despite prevailing low temperature, oxygen and pH levels in the upwelling setting. Helping to better explain why this species is among the most recurrent ones in these variable yet productive upwelling areas, current findings also provide opportune cues on plankton responses under warm-acid conditions, which are expected to occur in productive EBUS as a consequence of climate perturbations.

Description: We present experimental data obtained from an experiment with newly hatched veliger larvae of the gastropod Concholepas concholepas exposed to three pCO2 levels. Egg capsules were collected from two locations in northern and central Chile, and then incubated throughout their entire intra-capsular life cycle at three nominal pCO2 levels, 400, 700 and 1000 ppm (i.e. corresponding to 8.0, 7.8 and 7.6 pH units, respectively). Hatched larvae were fed with natural food assemblages. Food availability at time zero did not vary significantly with pCO2 level. Our results clearly showed a significant effect of elevated pCO2 on the intensity of larval feeding, which dropped by 〉60%. Incubation also showed that pCO2-driven ocean acidification (OA) may radically impact the selectivity of ingested food by C. concholepas larvae. Results also showed that larvae switched their clearance rate based on large cells, such as diatoms and dinoflagellates to tiny and highly abundant nanoflagellates and cyanobacteria as pCO2 levels increased. Thus, this study reveals the important effect of low pH conditions on larval feeding behavior, in terms of both ingestion magnitude and selectivity. These findings support the notion that larval feeding is a key physiological process susceptible to the effects of OA.

Description: This study evaluated the impact of medium-term exposure to elevated pCO2 levels (750-1200 ppm) on the physiological processes of juvenile Mytilus chilensis mussels over a period of 70 d in a mesocosm system. Three equilibration tanks filled with filtered seawater were adjusted to three pCO2 levels: 380 (control), 750 and 1200 ppm by bubbling air or an air-CO2 mixture through the water. For the control, atmospheric air (with aprox. 380 ppm CO2) was bubbled into the tank; for the 750 and 1200 ppm treatments, dry air and pure CO2 were blended to each target concentration using mass flow controllers for air and CO2. No impact on feeding activity was observed at the beginning of the experiment, but a significant reduction in clearance rate was observed after 35 d of exposure to highly acidified seawater. Absorption rate and absorption efficiency were reduced at high pCO2 levels. In addition, oxygen uptake fell significantly under these conditions, indicating a metabolic depression. These physiological responses of the mussels resulted in a significant reduction of energy available for growth (scope for growth) with important consequences for the aquaculture of this species during medium-term exposure to acid conditions. The results of this study clearly indicate that high pCO2 levels in the seawater have a negative effect on the health of M. chilensis. Therefore, the predicted acidification of seawater associated with global climate change could be harmful to this ecologically and commercially important mussel.

Description: Linking pH/pCO2 natural variation to phenotypic traits and performance of foundational species provides essential information for assessing and predicting the impact of ocean acidification (OA) on marine ecosystems. Yet, evidence of such linkage for copepods, the most abundant metazoans in the oceans, remains scarce, particularly for naturally corrosive Eastern Boundary Upwelling systems (EBUs). This study assessed the relationship between pH levels and traits (body and egg size) and performance (ingestion rate (IR) and egg reproduction rate (EPR)) of the numerically dominant neritic copepod Acartia tonsa, in a year-round upwelling system of the northern (23° S) Humboldt EBUs. The study revealed decreases in chlorophyll (Chl) ingestion rate, egg production rate and egg size with decreasing pH as well as egg production efficiency, but the opposite for copepod body size. Further, ingestion rate increased hyperbolically with Chl, and saturated at 1 µg Chl/ L. Food resources categorized as high (H, 〉1 µg/L) and low (L,  7.89) and future (〉400 µatm pCO2, pH 〈 7.89) were used to compare our observations to values globally employed to experimentally test copepod sensitivity to OA. A comparison (PERMANOVA) test with Chl/pH (2*2) design showed that partially overlapping OA levels expected for the year 2100 in other ocean regions, low-pH conditions in this system negatively impacted traits and performance associated with copepod fitness. However, interacting antagonistically with pH, food resource (Chl) maintained copepod production in spite of low pH levels. Thus, the deleterious effects of ocean acidification are modulated by resource availability in this system.