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Replenishment of fish populations is threatened by ocean acidification
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107:12930-12934
- Publication Year :
- 2010
- Publisher :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010.
-
Abstract
- There is increasing concern that ocean acidification, caused by the uptake of additional CO 2 at the ocean surface, could affect the functioning of marine ecosystems; however, the mechanisms by which population declines will occur have not been identified, especially for noncalcifying species such as fishes. Here, we use a combination of laboratory and field-based experiments to show that levels of dissolved CO 2 predicted to occur in the ocean this century alter the behavior of larval fish and dramatically decrease their survival during recruitment to adult populations. Altered behavior of larvae was detected at 700 ppm CO 2 , with many individuals becoming attracted to the smell of predators. At 850 ppm CO 2 , the ability to sense predators was completely impaired. Larvae exposed to elevated CO 2 were more active and exhibited riskier behavior in natural coral-reef habitat. As a result, they had 5–9 times higher mortality from predation than current-day controls, with mortality increasing with CO 2 concentration. Our results show that additional CO 2 absorbed into the ocean will reduce recruitment success and have far-reaching consequences for the sustainability of fish populations.
- Subjects :
- Conservation of Natural Resources
Coral reef fish
Oceans and Seas
Population Dynamics
Population
Biology
Predation
Animals
Seawater
Marine ecosystem
education
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
fungi
Fishes
Ocean acidification
Aquatic animal
Environmental Exposure
Environmental exposure
Carbon Dioxide
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Biological Sciences
Ichthyoplankton
Survival Analysis
Smell
Larva
Predatory Behavior
Acids
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490 and 00278424
- Volume :
- 107
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....600090579d743a23e89f76af185695fc