Literature review of elasmobranch bycatch and retention rate

To address growing concern over the effects of fisheries non-target catch on elasmobranchs worldwide, the accurate reporting of elasmobranch catch is essential. This requires data on a combination of measures, including reported landings, retained and discarded non-target catch, and post-discard survival. Identification of the factors influencing discard vs. retention is needed to improve catch estimates and to determine wasteful fishing practices. To do this we compared retention rates of elasmobranch non-target catch in a broad subset of fisheries throughout the world by taxon, fishing country, and gear. A regression tree and random forest analysis indicated that taxon was the most important determinant of retention in this dataset, but all three factors together explained 59% of the variance. Estimates of total elasmobranch removals were calculated by dividing the FAO global elasmobranch landings by average retention rates and suggest that total elasmobranch removals may exceed FAO reported landings by as much as 400%. This analysis is the first effort to directly characterize global drivers of discards for elasmobranch non-target catch. Our results highlight the importance of accurate quantification of retention and discard rates to improve assessments of the potential impacts of fisheries on these species.

Experiment: Elevated CO2 levels affect the activity of nitrate reductase and carbonic anhydrase in the calcifying rhodophyte Corallina officinalis

The concentration of CO2 in global surface ocean waters is increasing due to rising atmospheric CO2 emissions, resulting in lower pH and a lower saturation state of carbonate ions. Such changes in seawater chemistry are expected to impact calcification in calcifying marine organisms. However, other physiological processes related to calcification might also be affected, including enzyme activity. In a mesocosm experiment, macroalgal communities were exposed to three CO2 concentrations (380, 665, and 1486 µatm) to determine how the activity of two enzymes related to inorganic carbon uptake and nutrient assimilation in Corallina officinalis, an abundant calcifying rhodophyte, will be affected by elevated CO2 concentrations. The activity of external carbonic anhydrase, an important enzyme functioning in macroalgal carbon-concentrating mechanisms, was inversely related to CO2 concentration after long-term exposure (12 weeks). Nitrate reductase, the enzyme responsible for reduction of nitrate to nitrite, was stimulated by CO2 and was highest in algae grown at 665 µatm CO2. Nitrate and phosphate uptake rates were inversely related to CO2, while ammonium uptake was unaffected, and the percentage of inorganic carbon in the algal skeleton decreased with increasing CO2. The results indicate that the processes of inorganic carbon and nutrient uptake and assimilation are affected by elevated CO2 due to changes in enzyme activity, which change the energy balance and physiological status of C. officinalis, therefore affecting its competitive interactions with other macroalgae. The ecological implications of the physiological changes in C. officinalis in response to elevated CO2 are discussed.

Ocean acidification induces multi-generational decline in copepod naupliar production with possible conflict for reproductive resource allocation

Climate change, including ocean acidification (OA), presents fundamental challenges to marine biodiversity and sustained ecosystem health. We determined reproductive response (measured as naupliar production), cuticle composition and stage specific growth of the copepod Tisbe battagliai over three generations at four pH conditions (pH 7.67, 7.82, 7.95, and 8.06). Naupliar production increased significantly at pH 7.95 compared with pH 8.06 followed by a decline at pH 7.82. Naupliar production at pH 7.67 was higher than pH 7.82. We attribute the increase at pH 7.95 to an initial stress response which was succeeded by a hormesis-like response at pH 7.67. A multi-generational modelling approach predicted a gradual decline in naupliar production over the next 100 years (equivalent to approximately 2430 generations). There was a significant growth reduction (mean length integrated across developmental stage) relative to controls. There was a significant increase in the proportion of carbon relative to oxygen within the cuticle as seawater pH decreased. Changes in growth, cuticle composition and naupliar production strongly suggest that copepods subjected to OA-induced stress preferentially reallocate resources towards maintaining reproductive output at the expense of somatic growth and cuticle composition. These responses may drive shifts in life history strategies that favour smaller brood sizes, females and perhaps later maturing females, with the potential to profoundly destabilise marine trophodynamics.

Seawater carbonate chemistry, productivity and calcification of Marginopora vertebralis in a laboratory experiment

Changes in the seawater carbonate chemistry (ocean acidification) from increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentrations negatively affect many marine calcifying organisms, but may benefit primary producers under dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) limitation. To improve predictions of the ecological effects of ocean acidification, the net gains and losses between the processes of photosynthesis and calcification need to be studied jointly on physiological and population levels. We studied productivity, respiration, and abundances of the symbiont-bearing foraminifer species Marginopora vertebralis on natural CO2 seeps in Papua New Guinea and conducted additional studies on production and calcification on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) using artificially enhanced pCO2 . Net oxygen production increased up to 90% with increasing pCO2 ; temperature, light, and pH together explaining 61% of the variance in production. Production increased with increasing light and increasing pCO2 and declined at higher temperatures. Respiration was also significantly elevated (~25%), whereas calcification was reduced (16-39%) at low pH/high pCO2 compared to present-day conditions. In the field, M. vertebralis was absent at three CO2 seep sites at pHTotal levels below ~7.9 (pCO2 ~700 µatm), but it was found in densities of over 1000 m(-2) at all three control sites. The study showed that endosymbiotic algae in foraminifera benefit from increased DIC availability and may be naturally carbon limited. The observed reduction in calcification may have been caused either by increased energy demands for proton pumping (measured as elevated rates of respiration) or by stronger competition for DIC from the more productive symbionts. The net outcome of these two competing processes is that M. vertebralis cannot maintain populations under pCO2 exceeding 700 µatm, thus are likely to be extinct in the next century.

(Table 1) Geochemistry of glass shards at DSDP Leg 84 Holes

Three Leg 84 sites provided a good record of explosive volcanism onshore (in Central America). Ash layers and many ashy pods are interbedded in Recent to Oligocene strata. Evidence of the main periods of activity was noted in Recent to upper Pleistocene, Pliocene-Pleistocene, lower Pliocene to upper Miocene, lower Miocene, and upper Oligocene. Noticeable traces of older volcanism were found in upper Eocene strata. The chemical analyses of glass shards show a dacitic to rhyolitic composition with a low to moderate calc-alkalinity. A preliminary distinction of samples in three geochemical groups according to their K2O/SiO2 contents is done to test a magmatic evolution. Comparisons are made with Leg 67 and on-land data.

Seawater carbonate chemistry, tissue-skeleton interface and calcification in reef corals in a laboratory experiment

Insight into the response of reef corals and other major marine calcifiers to ocean acidification is limited by a lack of knowledge about how seawater pH and carbonate chemistry impact the physiological processes that drive biomineralization. Ocean acidification is proposed to reduce calcification rates in corals by causing declines in internal pH at the calcifying tissue-skeleton interface where biomineralization takes place. Here, we performed an in vivo study on how partial-pressure CO(2)-driven seawater acidification impacts intracellular pH in coral calcifying cells and extracellular pH in the fluid at the tissue-skeleton interface [subcalicoblastic medium (SCM)] in the coral Stylophora pistillata. We also measured calcification in corals grown under the same conditions of seawater acidification by measuring lateral growth of colonies and growth of aragonite crystals under the calcifying tissue. Our findings confirm that seawater acidification decreases pH of the SCM, but this decrease is gradual relative to the surrounding seawater, leading to an increasing pH gradient between the SCM and seawater. Reductions in calcification rate, both at the level of crystals and whole colonies, were only observed in our lowest pH treatment when pH was significantly depressed in the calcifying cells in addition to the SCM. Overall, our findings suggest that reef corals may mitigate the effects of seawater acidification by regulating pH in the SCM, but they also highlight the role of calcifying cell pH homeostasis in determining the response of reef corals to changes in external seawater pH and carbonate chemistry.