The effects of ocean acidification on living marine resources present serious challenges for managers of these resources. An understanding of the ecosystem consequences of ocean acidification is required to assess tradeoffs among ecosystem components (e.g. fishery yield, protected species conservation, sensitive habitat) and adaptations to this perturbation. We used a ...

This four-page brochure provides an introduction to ocean and coastal acidification, its effects on marine life, why the Northeast is especially vulnerable, research priorities for the region, and what people can do to fight coastal acidification. The information in the brochure is adapted from NECAN's 2015 Oceanography article. 

Appendicularians are free-swimming tunicates that are common in most oceans, coastal waters, and estuaries. They build delicate, gelatinous houses that they use to filter food from the water. This study found that appendicularian abundance increased with ocean acidification, warmer temperatures, and higher nutrient levels. This suggests that appendicularians will play ...

Copepods produced more eggs in warmer temperatures, but the increase was smaller when copepods were simultaneously exposed to warmer temperature and ocean acidification conditions (lower pH). When pH changed between egg production and hatching, fewer eggs hatched. Warmer egg production temperature induced a positive maternal effect and increased the egg ...

Ten species of zooplankton displayed a range of mortality rates when exposed to ocean acidification conditions. Differences in in swimming behavior, food habits, size, and presence of gills were not significantly related to sensitivity to lowered pH. The results suggest that marine zooplankton are more sensitive than freshwater zooplankton to ...

The egg production rate, hatching success, and respiration of a Mediterranean copepod were not affected by ocean acidification conditions. Warming and food availability did have some effects. (Laboratory study)

Four species of copepods differed in their survival, egg production, and egg hatching success when exposed to ocean acidification conditions for 8 days. (Laboratory study)

This study analyzed changes in phytoplankton and zooplankton on the Newfoundland and Scotian shelves from 1962 to 2003 in relation to changes in oceanography. Three categories of phytoplankton (color, diatoms, dinoflagellates) increased in abundance in the 1990s, and these increases generally persisted into 2001–2003. This is believed to be a ...

Exposure to extreme ocean acidification conditions (pH 6.95) did not affect growth of adult female copepods. However, only 4 percent of their eggs successfully yielded larvae.

Viability of copepod eggs and larvae was not affected by exposure to ocean acidification conditions. In contrast, warming by 2 or 4°C increased the viability of some eggs. (Laboratory study)