Exploring local adaptation and the ocean acidification seascape – studies in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem

[摘要] The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), a temperate marineregion dominated by episodic upwelling, is predicted to experience rapidenvironmental change in the future due to ocean acidification. The aragonitesaturation state within the California Current System is predicted todecrease in the future with near-permanent undersaturation conditionsexpected by the year 2050. Thus, the CCLME is a critical region to study dueto the rapid rate of environmental change that resident organisms willexperience and because of the economic and societal value of this coastalregion. Recent efforts by a research consortium – the Ocean MarginEcosystems Group for Acidification Studies (OMEGAS) – has begun tocharacterize a portion of the CCLME; both describing the spatial mosaic of pHin coastal waters and examining the responses of key calcification-dependentbenthic marine organisms to natural variation in pH and to changes incarbonate chemistry that are expected in the coming decades. In this review,we present the OMEGAS strategy of co-locating sensors and oceanographicobservations with biological studies on benthic marine invertebrates,specifically measurements of functional traits such as calcification-relatedprocesses and genetic variation in populations that are locally adapted toconditions in a particular region of the coast. Highlighted in thiscontribution are (1) the OMEGAS sensor network that spans the west coast ofthe US from central Oregon to southern California, (2) initial findings ofthe carbonate chemistry amongst the OMEGAS study sites, and (3) an overview ofthe biological data that describes the acclimatization and the adaptationcapacity of key benthic marine invertebrates within the CCLME.

[学科分类] 地球化学与岩石