Publication Date:
2023-03-14
Description:
The emission of anthropogenic carbon dioxide leads to the lowering of seawater pH. Ocean acidification is a major problem for marine calcifying organisms. There is a need to study short- and long-term effects of lowered pH on marine organisms such as oysters. Oysters are an important food source and useful for nutrients recycling in the coastal estuarine environments. The coastal estuarine environment such as mangrove ecosystems connected to the Sargasso Sea, Ferry Reach, Bermuda, has a natural variation of pH according to the changes in tidal regime (thus low and high tide activities). The unique environment serves as a model place to carry out the effect of changing pH on a marine organism such as flat tree oysters inhabiting this coastal ecosystem.
For the laboratory experiment, a total of 84 specimens of the flat tree oyster, Isognomon alatus, were randomly collected on 21 January 2009 from rocks exposed at low tide in Mullet Bay, an intertidal mudflat, St. George, Bermuda (latitude: 32° 22' 30'' N, longitude: 64° 41' 35''W). An experiment was performed to test the effect of projected future pH decrease in a seawater flow-through system at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) for a short period (February to April 2009). Physicochemical conditions (seawater temperature, salinity, pH and oxygen concentration) in three control tanks (C1, C2, C3, pH = 8.1 - 8.2) and three acidification tanks (T1, T2, T3, pH = 7.8 - 7.9) used for the culture of the oysters were recorded. Changes in shell morphometrics of the oysters were determined.
For the field experiment, 42 specimens of I. alatus were randomly placed in 6 tanks (approx. n = 7 oysters/tank). Two tanks were then positioned along the transect at each station (A, B ,C) in Mangrove Bay, Bermuda. The shell parameters of flat tree oysters and physicochemical conditions were monitored biweekly.
Keywords:
acidification; Bermuda; Bermuda, Atlantic Ocean; bivalves growth; coastal estuarine; Environmental variables; EXP; Experiment; flat tree oyster; Isognomon alatus; Knife; KNIFE; Mangrove Bay; MangroveBay_A; MangroveBay_B; MangroveBay_C; manipulated CO2; MulletBay; pH variation; seawater flow through system; Shell morphometrics; Station A; Station B; Station C; Tidal regime
Type:
Dataset
Format:
application/zip, 4 datasets
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