This work revealed, in their words, that "regardless of habitat or latitude, ocean acidification impedes larval growth." However, they also found that "when temperature is added to the stressor mix, near-future warming can reduce the negative effect of acidification on larval growth," since "increased temperature has the opposite effect, resulting in faster growth, larger larvae and skeletons and enhanced metabolism in warmer conditions." And they write that "thus far, the interactive effects of near-future ocean warming and acidification on marine invertebrate development have been investigated for 23 species (three corals, nine molluscs, six echinoderms and five crustaceans) including three sea urchin species," adding that "in several studies, near-future warming, not acidification, is the more important stressor, especially with regard to survivorship of early embryos (Nguyen et al., 2012; Amberg et al., 2014)."

The five scientists also note that "the ocean will change over coming decades more gradually than in laboratory experiments." And, therefore, they suggest that changing ocean conditions may result in the production of more resistant invertebrate larvae, through phenotypic buffering and natural selection. In addition, they write that "acclimatization of urchins and oysters to moderately elevated pCO2 can result in trans-life cycle enhancement of larval and juvenile tolerance of reduced pH in some species," citing the studies of Parker et al. (2012) and Dupont et al. (2014). And they similarly note that "trans-generational phenotypic resilience to increased temperature has also been shown for sea urchins," citing O'Connor and Mulley (1977) and Johnson and Babcock (1994).

In concluding, Byrne et al. write that "adaptation through natural selection over coming decades may also facilitate persistence in a changing ocean, especially for species from warmer latitudes that have a comparatively shorter generation time compared with polar species." In addition, they note that "recent quantitative genetics and genomic studies with echinoids indicate the presence of traits to facilitate resilience and adaptation (genetic) to ocean acidification (Pespini et al., 2012; Kelly et al., 2013; Sunday et al., 2011; Schlegel, et al., 2012), as well as to ocean warming and to both stressors combined (Foo et al., 2012)."

And so it would appear that a whole host of marine animals are well equipped, indeed, to deal with even the worst-case predictions of the world's climate-alarmists, as they pertain to ocean acidification and global warming.

Sherwood, Keith and Craig Idso

References
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