Near-future levels of ocean acidification do not affect sperm motility and fertilization kinetics in the oyster Crassostrea gigas

By J. Havenhand, P. Schlegel. 2009

174 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. An increasing number of studies are now reporting the effects of ocean acidification on a broad range of marine species, processes and systems. Many of these are investigating the sensitive early life-history stages that several major reviews have highlighted as being potentially most susceptible to ocean acidification. Nonetheless there remain few investigations of the effects of ocean acidification on the very earliest, and critical, process of fertilization, and still fewer that have investigated levels of ocean acidification relevant for the coming century. Here we report the effects of near-future levels of ocean acidification (≈−0.35 pH unit change) on sperm swimming speed, sperm motility, and fertilization kinetics in a population of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas from western Sweden. We found no significant effect of ocean acidification – a result that was well-supported by power analysis. Similar findings from Japan suggest that this may be a globally robust result, and we emphasise the need for experiments on multiple populations from throughout a species' range. We also discuss the importance of sound experimental design and power analysis in meaningful interpretation of non-significant results.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a9b61d4a7f483691e726cda0bc4d181ede8e9ff

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Citations in the corpus

The Impact of Ocean Acidification on Reproduction, Early Development and Settlement of Marine Organisms (2011, unknown): “Genotypic variation may explain differences in larval development responses for the same species in different geographical locations (Crassostrea gigas Japan [33]; Sweden [49]; Australia [39]) and provide the potential for climate proofing aquacultural industries.”
Comparing the effect of elevated pCO2 and temperature on the fertilization and early development of two species of oysters (2010, background): “This study is the first to find a significant difference in the response of Australian populations of C.gigas to elevated pCO2 compared to the non-significant responses of the Japanese (Kurihara et al. 2007; albeit at considerably greater pCO2 level) and Swedish (Havenhand and Schlegel 2009 at compa”
A laboratory‐based, experimental system for the study of ocean acidification effects on marine invertebrate larvae (2010, background): “Indeed, accumulating evidence suggests that events such as fertilization (Kurihara and Shirayama 2004; Havenhand et al. 2008; but see also Havenhand and Schlegel 2009; Byrne et al. 2010), early embryonic stages, and larval forms (e.g, Kurihara 2008; Dupont and Thorndyke 2009; Egilsdottir et al.…”
Effect of pH on Gene Expression and Thermal Tolerance of Early Life History Stages of Red Abalone (Haliotis rufescens) (2010, unknown): “8 (Havenhand & Schlegel 2009)).”
Elevated pCO2 increases sperm limitation and risk of polyspermy in the red sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus (2011, result): “In contrast, a recent study on the oyster Crassostrea gigas (Havenhand & Schlegel, 2009) found that fertilization success was not affected by elevated pCO2.”
Fertilization in a suite of coastal marine invertebrates from SE Australia is robust to near-future ocean warming and acidification (2010, methodology): “Near-future acidification levels did not significantly impair fertilization in Haliotis coccoradiata, as found for other molluscs (Crossostrea gigas, Mytilus galloprovincialis) where CO2 was used to adjust pH (down to pH 7.4) (Kurihara 2008; Havenhand and Schlegel 2009 ), but not for Saccostrea glo”
Ocean acidification impacts multiple early life history processes of the Caribbean coral Porites astreoides (2011, background): “…2008), corals and sea cucumbers (Morita et al., 2009); fertilization success in urchins (Kurihara & Shirayama, 2004; Havenhand et al., 2008; Reuter et al., 2010; but see Byrne et al., 2010), mollusks (Parker et al., 2009; but see Havenhand & Schlegel, 2009) Correspondence: Rebecca Albright, tel.”
Impacts of ocean acidification on marine shelled molluscs (2013, background): “For example, gametes of the Paciﬁc oyster, C. gigas , from populations in Japan (Kurihara et al. 2007) and Sweden (Havenhand and Schlegel 2009) experienced no reduction in percentage fertilization, sperm swimming speed and motility (sperm tested only in the Swedish population) when reared at elevate”
Reviewing the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Sexual Reproduction and Early Life History Stages of Reef-Building Corals (2011, unknown): “While many acidification studies originally focused on the sensitivity of adult growth and calcification, mounting experimental evidence now suggests that numerous biological processes and physiological functions independent of calcification may be negatively impacted including sperm motility in urc”
The response of two ecologically important Antarctic invertebrates (Sterechinus neumayeri and Parborlasia corrugatus) to reduced seawater pH: effects on fertilisation and embryonic development (2010, background): “The effect of lowered seawater pH on fertilisation has been examined in a limited number of studies (Havenhand et al. 2008; Byrne et al. 2009, 2010a, b; Havenhand and Schlegel 2009; Parker et al. 2009), which have found a range of responses and vulnerabilities between species and individuals.”
Populations of the Sydney rock oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, vary in response to ocean acidification (2011, background): “2007) and Swedish (Havenhand and Schlegel 2009) populations.”
Antarctic Marine Biodiversity: Adaptations, Environments and Responses to Change (2018, background): “2016c), reproductive characteristics (Havenhand & Schlegel 2009, Parker et al.”