Meeting Abstract
The world’s oceans are becoming more acidic. The consequences are difficult to predict, as effects can be far more subtle than simply causing mortality. We examined the effects of pH (7.5, 7.7, and 8.0) on aspects of growth and development of the widely distributed marine gastropod Crepidula fornicata. Larval survival was above 95% at all tested pH’s. However, larvae grew significantly faster and became competent to metamorphose significantly sooner when reared at pH 7.7. After metamorphosis, juveniles grew significantly faster at pH 8 than at 7.5, regardless of larval rearing pH. Juveniles also showed consequences of larval experience: among the juveniles maintained at pH 8.0, individuals that had been reared as larvae at pH 7.5 grew more slowly than individuals that had been reared as larvae at pH 8.0. Finally, although most larvae grew very slowly at pH 7.5, ~10% of the larvae grew at normal rates. We are currently investigating differences in gene expression that could account for this performance difference among individuals under acidified conditions.
