Meeting Abstract
Ocean acidification has been identified as a major threat to marine life. In addition to reduced calcification, elevated CO2 affects the sensory systems of marine organisms. Sensory perception directly impacts essential behaviors, such as homing, settlement, predator evasion and foraging. Sensory perception of chemical, visual and auditory cues is an integral part of community dynamics in marine systems and plays an important role in the daily life and survival of marine organisms. Behavioral interactions mediated by sensory perception influence ecosystem dynamics. If ocean acidification negatively impacts sensory perception, there is the potential that it could also indirectly harm community health and structure. For this reason, it is essential to fully evaluate the potential impacts of ocean acidification on sensory perception. The current knowledge base on the effects of ocean acidification on sensory systems, specifically investigating chemoreception have identified key processes that are potentially disrupted. However, there are a number of gaps and biases in the field, which need to be rectified for a full understanding on the impact of future climate conditions. The next generation of research on this topic should amend these biases in order to gather a more thorough prediction of how the ocean organisms will respond to ocean acidification.
