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Ocean acidification alters zooplankton communities and increases top-down pressure of a cubozoan predator
Global Change Biology (2017)
  • Edd Hammill, Utah State University
Abstract
The composition of local ecological communities is determined by the members of the regional community that are able to survive the abiotic and biotic conditions of a local ecosystem. Anthropogenic activities since the industrial revolution have increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which have in turn decreased ocean pH and altered carbonate ion concentrations: so called ocean acidification (OA). Single-species experiments have shown how OA can dramatically affect zooplankton development, physiology and skeletal mineralization status, potentially reducing their defensive function and altering their predatory and antipredatory behaviors. This means that increased OA may indirectly alter the biotic conditions by modifying trophic interactions. We investigated how OA affects the impact of a cubozoan predator on their zooplankton prey, predominantly Copepoda, Pleocyemata, Dendrobranchiata, and Amphipoda. Experimental conditions were set at either current (pCO2 370 μatm) or end-of-the-century OA (pCO2 1,100 μatm) scenarios, crossed in an orthogonal experimental design with the presence/absence of the cubozoan predator Carybdea rastoni.
Publication Date
2017
DOI
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13849
Citation Information
Edd Hammill. "Ocean acidification alters zooplankton communities and increases top-down pressure of a cubozoan predator" Global Change Biology Vol. 24 Iss. 1 (2017) p. 128 - 138
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/edd-hammill/31/