Understanding larval bivalve responses to variable regimes of seawater carbonate chemistry requires realistic quantification of physiological stress. Based on a degree-day modeling approach, we developed a new metric, the ocean acidification stress index for shellfish (OASIS), for this purpose. OASIS integrates over the entire larval period the instantaneous stress associated...
We tested the role of benthic infaunal functional diversity in regulating the biogeochemistry of nearshore sediments using laboratory microcosms. Single and multispecies assemblages of deposit-feeding polychaetes (Clymenella torquata, Spio setosa, and Leitoscoloplos fragilis) were used, and fluxes of oxygen and phosphate, as well as profiles of oxygen and pH in...
Disease, overharvesting, and pollution have impaired the role of bivalves on coastal ecosystems, some to the point of functional extinction. An underappreciated function of many bivalves in these systems is shell formation. The ecological significance of bivalve shell has been recognized; geochemical effects are now more clearly being understood. A...
Oyster shell is a crucial component of healthy oyster reefs. Shell planting has been a main component of oyster restoration efforts in many habitats and has been carried out on scales from individual and grassroots efforts to multiagency efforts across entire estuaries. However, the cycling and lifetime of the shell...
We show that death by dissolution is an important size-dependent mortality Utilizing a new experimental design, we were able to replicate saturation states frequently encountered by Mercenaria mercenaria in coastal deposits mercenaria were reared in sediments at Ωaragonite = 0.4 and 0.6, significant occurred (14.0% and 14.4% d⁻¹, respectively), relative...
Ocean acidification is a global, long-term problem whose ultimate solution requires carbon dioxide reduction at a scope and
scale that will take decades to accomplish successfully. Until that is achieved, feasible and locally relevant adaptation and
mitigation measures are needed. To help to prioritize societal responses to ocean acidification, we...
Ocean acidification is a global, long-term problem whose ultimate solution requires carbon dioxide reduction at a scope and
scale that will take decades to accomplish successfully. Until that is achieved, feasible and locally relevant adaptation and
mitigation measures are needed. To help to prioritize societal responses to ocean acidification, we...
In the mid-2000s the U.S. west coast oyster industry experienced several years of significant production failures. This industry has been referred to as the “canary in a coal mine” for ocean acidification (OA). Industry-led collaboration with university and government scientists identified a relationship between elevated carbon dioxide in seawater and...
In 2007, the US west coast shellfish industry began to feel the effects of unprecedented levels of larval mortality in commercial hatcheries producing the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. Subsequently, researchers at Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery, working with academic and government scientists, showed a high correlation between aragonite saturation state (Ω[subscript]arag)...
Ocean acidification results in co-varying inorganic carbon system variables. Of these, an explicit focus on pH and organismal acid-base regulation in has failed to distinguish the mechanism of failure in highly sensitive bivalve larvae. With unique chemical manipulations of seawater we show definitively that larval bivalve shell development and growth...