The Gulf of Maine's unusual geography and oceanography make it distinct from other continental shelf ecosystems. It has deep basins, shallow offshore banks that limit water flow between the Gulf and the open Atlantic Ocean, strong tidal mixing of it shallower waters, and a seasonal cycle of intense winter cooling, ...

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)

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 ...

When embryos of a common estuarine fish—the inland silverside—were exposed to high CO2 levels until one week after hatching, survival dropped by 74 percent and length by 18 percent. The eggs were more vulnerable to mortality than the post-hatch larvae. The CO2 conditions that were simulated in the study are ...

When larvae of blue mussels were kept in ocean acidification conditions predicted for 2100 (pH 7.6) there was no marked effect on fertilization, development, abnormalities, or feeding. However, although the mussel larvae were able to form shells, after two months of exposure they were 28 percent smaller than larvae raised ...