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Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are of increasing concern due to the emerging ecological and socioeconomic impacts on coastal ecosystems. Leveraging the data of the Santa Barbara Coastal Long-Term Ecological Research project, we analyzed the MHW event metrics observed in the kelp forest ecosystem and across Santa Barbara Channel, CA, USA. Not only was there a significant positive trend in the number of MHWs recorded, their duration and intensity were also increasing over time. MHWs were detected year-round, suggesting that marine organisms have exposure risks regardless of their phenology. Exposure at one life history stage could have a legacy effect on the subsequent stages, implying little temporal refuge. In contrast, the coastal mooring data revealed that near-surface and bottom events were not necessarily coupled even at less than 15 m. Such spatial variation in MHWs might provide a temporary refuge for mobile species. These observations also highlight the importance of depth-stratified, long-term coastal monitoring to understand spatio-temporal variation in MHW stress on coastal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an accumulating body of evidence suggesting that the sub-zero Antarctic marine environment places physiological constraints on protein homeostasis. Levels of ubiquitin (Ub)-conjugated proteins, 20S proteasome activity and mRNA expression of many proteins involved in both the Ub tagging of damaged proteins as well as the different complexes of the 26S proteasome were measured to examine whether there is thermal compensation of the Ub-proteasome pathway in Antarctic fishes to better understand the efficiency of the protein degradation machinery in polar species. Both Antarctic (Trematomus bernacchii, Pagothenia borchgrevinki) and non-Antarctic (Notothenia angustata, Bovichtus variegatus) notothenioids were included in this study to investigate the mechanisms of cold adaptation of this pathway in polar species. Overall, there were significant differences in the levels of Ub-conjugated proteins between the Antarctic notothenioids and B. variegatus, with N. angustata possessing levels very similar to those of the Antarctic fishes. Proteasome activity in the gills of Antarctic fishes demonstrated a high degree of temperature compensation such that activity levels were similar to activities measured in their temperate relatives at ecologically relevant temperatures. A similar level of thermal compensation of proteasome activity was not present in the liver of two Antarctic fishes. Higher gill proteasome activity is likely due in part to higher cellular levels of proteins involved in the Ub-proteasome pathway, as evidenced by high mRNA expression of relevant genes. Reduced activity of the Ub-proteasome pathway does not appear to be the mechanism responsible for elevated levels of denatured proteins in Antarctic fishes, at least in the gills.

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The effect of Ocean Acidification (OA) on marine biota is quasi-predictable at best. While perturbation studies, in the form of incubations under elevated pCO(2), reveal sensitivities and responses of individual species, one missing link in the OA story results from a chronic lack of pH data specific to a given species' natural habitat. Here, we present a compilation of continuous, high-resolution time series of upper ocean pH, collected using autonomous sensors, over a variety of ecosystems ranging from polar to tropical, open-ocean to coastal, kelp forest to coral reef. These observations reveal a continuum of month-long pH variability with standard deviations from 0.004 to 0.277 and ranges spanning 0.024 to 1.430 pH units. The nature of the observed variability was also highly site-dependent, with characteristic diel, semi-diurnal, and stochastic patterns of varying amplitudes. These biome-specific pH signatures disclose current levels of exposure to both high and low dissolved CO(2), often demonstrating that resident organisms are already experiencing pH regimes that are not predicted until 2100. Our data provide a first step toward crystallizing the biophysical link between environmental history of pH exposure and physiological resilience of marine organisms to fluctuations in seawater CO(2). Knowledge of this spatial and temporal variation in seawater chemistry allows us to improve the design of OA experiments: we can test organisms with a priori expectations of their tolerance guardrails, based on their natural range of exposure. Such hypothesis-testing will provide a deeper understanding of the effects of OA. Both intuitively simple to understand and powerfully informative, these and similar comparative time series can help guide management efforts to identify areas of marine habitat that can serve as refugia to acidification as well as areas that are particularly vulnerable to future ocean change.

In this study, we examined the differential thermal tolerance of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus early life history stages by comparing high temperature–induced mortality and the relative levels of the stress-induced gene, hsp70, between S. purpuratus embryos and larvae from adults collected throughout the species range. There was no significant difference between gastrulae and 4-arm plutei mortality from all sites examined. Furthermore, there was little variability in temperature tolerance across the biogeographic range as southern gastrulae and 4-arm plutei exhibited similar tolerances to northern individuals. Relative levels of hsp70 mRNA expression did not differ overall between the two developmental stages at each site. Across sites, all gastrulae and 4-arm plutei exhibited maximum hsp70 expression at approximately 25°C; however, the range of hsp70 expression was narrower in southern individuals, suggesting they are living closer to their upper thermal limit than northern individuals.

A critical step in understanding how temperature will affect biodiversity in coastal ecosystems is to gain insight into how the tolerances, and ultimately survival, of early life history stages will influence the distribution and abundance of adults. We assessed the thermal tolerance of encapsulated veliger-stage larvae of a common dogwhelk, Nucella ostrina, that occur in the rocky intertidal zone on the west coast of North America. Results showed that veligers collected from northern latitudes in Washington State were less tolerant of heat stress than those from central sites in California. For all sites, we found there to be a subtle difference between the temperatures at which veligers first began to die compared to when veligers reached 100% mortality. On a biogeographic scale, the LT50 temperatures, a measure of larval sensitivity, for N. ostrina veligers displayed a strong latitudinal trend. These findings provide a conservative measurement of the upper thermal limits of encapsulated veligers while illustrating how these early life history stages could be physiologically compromised under future climate warming scenarios.