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Marine invertebrate skeleton size varies with latitude, temperature and carbonate saturation: Implications for global change and ocean acidification
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Marine invertebrate skeleton size varies with latitude, temperature and carbonate saturation: Implications for global change and ocean acidification

S A Watson, L S Peck, P A Tyler, Paul C Southgate, K S Tan, R W Day and S A Morley
Global Change Biology, Vol.18(10), pp.3026-3038
2012
url
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2012.02755.xView
Published Version

Abstract

calcium carbonate calcification ocean acidification temperature morphology predation solubility mollusc brachiopod echinoid
There is great concern over the future effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms, especially for skeletal calcification, yet little is known of natural variation in skeleton size and composition across the globe, and this is a prerequisite for identifying factors currently controlling skeleton mass and thickness. Here, taxonomically controlled latitudinal variations in shell morphology and composition were investigated in bivalve and gastropod molluscs, brachiopods, and echinoids. Total inorganic content, a proxy for skeletal CaCO 3, decreased with latitude, decreasing seawater temperature, and decreasing seawater carbonate saturation state (for CaCO 3 as calcite (Ω cal)) in all taxa. Shell mass decreased with latitude in molluscs and shell inorganic content decreased with latitude in buccinid gastropods. Shell thickness decreased with latitude in buccinid gastropods (excepting the Australian temperate buccinid) and echinoids, but not brachiopods and laternulid clams. In the latter, the polar species had the thickest shell. There was no latitudinal trend in shell thickness within brachiopods. The variation in trends in shell thickness by taxon suggests that in some circumstances ecological factors may override latitudinal trends. Latitudinal gradients may produce effects similar to those of future CO 2-driven ocean acidification on CaCO 3 saturation state. Responses to latitudinal trends in temperature and saturation state may therefore be useful in informing predictions of organism responses to ocean acidification over long-term adaptive timescales. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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