This article provides an overview of how rivers, which tend to be acidic compared to the ocean, affect shellfish, with a focus on the Gulf of Maine.

Ocean acidification conditions and warmer temperatures reduced the survival, development, growth, and lipid synthesis of hard clam and bay scallop larvae. During the juvenile life stages, ocean acidification negatively affected juvenile eastern oysters and bay scallops, but not hard clams. Larvae were substantially more vulnerable to ocean acidication than juveniles ...

Exposure of early life stages of a common estuarine fish (inland silverside) to ocean acidification conditions expected in the world’s oceans later this century reduced survival by 74 percent and growth by 18 percent. The egg stage was significantly more vulnerable than the post-hatch larval stage. These findings challenge the ...

Over the contiguous United States, precipitation, temperature, streamflow, and heavy and very heavy precipitation increased during the twentieth century. 

Corals collected in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, exhibited a complex set of responses when exposed to ocean acidification conditions, different nutrient levels, and two different temperatures. For example, female corals were more sensitive than males to elevated CO2 levels. Considering gender and spawning may be important when considering how populations of ...

Based on experiments with corals collected in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, this paper presents a conceptual model of how changes in nutrients and ocean acidification may interact to produce the range of effects that have been observed in different coral studies. (Laboratory study)

Ocean acidification increased the negative effects of cadmium pollution on the immune systems of quahogs and eastern oysters, potentially making them more vulnerable to pathogens and disease. (Laboratory study)

When quahogs and eastern oysters were exposed to a combination of warmer temperatures and ocean acidification for 15 weeks, shell hardness decreased in both species. By itself, ocean acidification had a small effect on the physiology and metabolism of both species, but it improved survival in oysters. (Laboratory study)

Experiments with quahogs exposed to trace metal pollutants under ocean acidification conditions revealed complex interactions and indicated that variations in environmental CO2 may modulate the biological effects of trace metals. (Laboratory study)

Sea stars collected in Nova Scotia, Canada, grew more slowly under ocean acidification conditions, and their growth rate decreased further with a warmer temperature. In contrast, blue mussel grew more quickly with no response to temperature within the tested range. Predation of sea stars on mussels, measured as per-capita consumption ...