Mountain centered icefields in northern Scandinavia

Mountain centered glaciers have played a major role throughout the last three million years in the Scandinavian mountains. The climatic extremes, like the present warm interglacial or cold glacial maxima, are very short-lived compared to the periods of intermediate climate conditions, characterized by the persistence of mountain based glaciers and ice fields of regional size. These have persisted in the Scandinavian mountains for about 65% of the Quaternary. Mountain based glaciers thus had a profound impact on large-scale geomorphology, which is manifested in large-scale glacial landforms such as fjords, glacial lakes and U-shaped valleys in and close to the mountain range. Through a mapping of glacial landforms in the northern Scandinavian mountain range, in particular a striking set of lateral moraines, this thesis offers new insights into Weichselian stages predating the last glacial maximum. The aerial photograph mapping and field evidence yield evidence that these lateral moraines were overridden by glacier ice subsequent to their formation. The lateral moraines were dated using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide techniques. Although the terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide signature of the moraines is inconclusive, an early Weichselian age is tentatively suggested through correlations with other landforms and stratigraphical archives in the region. The abundance and coherent spatial pattern of the lateral moraines also allow a spatial reconstruction of this ice field. The ice field was controlled by topography and had nunataks protruding also where it was thickest close to the elevation axis of the Scandinavian mountain range. Outlet glaciers discharged into the Norwegian fjords and major valleys in Sweden. The process by which mountain based glaciers grow into an ice sheet is a matter of debate. In this thesis, a feedback mechanism between debris on the ice surface and ice sheet growth is presented. In essence, the growth of glaciers and ice sheets may be accelerated by an abundance of debris in their ablation areas. This may occur when the debris cover on the glacier surface inhibits ablation, effectively increasing the glaciers mass balance. It is thus possible that a dirty ablation area may cause the glacier to advance further than a clean glacier under similar conditions. An ice free period of significant length allows soil production through weathering, frost shattering, and slope processes. As glaciers advance through this assemblage of sediments, significant amounts of debris end up on the surface due to both mass wastage and subglacial entrainment. Evidence that this chain of events may occur, is given by large expanses of hummocky moraine (local name Veiki moraine) in the northern Swedish lowlands. Because the Veiki moraine has been correlated with the first Weichselian advance following the Eemian, it implies a heavily debris charged ice sheet emanating from the mountain range and terminating in a stagnant fashion in the lowlands.

Dynamics of the cold surface layer of polythermal Storglaciären, Sweden

Polythermal glaciers, i.e. glaciers with a combination of ice at and below the freezing point, are widespread in arctic and subarctic environments. The polythermal structure has major implications for glacier hydrology, ice flow and glacial erosion. However, the interplay of factors governing its spatial and temporal variations such as net mass balance, ice advection and water content in the ice is poorly investigated and as yet not fully understood. This study deals with a thorough investigation of the polythermal regime on Storglaciären, northern Sweden, a small valley glacier with a cold surface layer in the ablation area. Extensive field work was performed including mapping of the cold surface layer using ground-penetrating radar, ice temperature measurements, mass balance and ice velocity measurements. Analyses of these data combined with numerical modelling were used specifically to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of the cold surface layer, the spatial distribution of the water content just below the cold surface layer transition, the effect of radar frequency on the detection of the surface layer, and the sensitivity of the cold surface layer to changes in forcing. A comparison between direct temperature measurements in boreholes and ground-penetrating surveys shows that the radar-inferred cold-temperate transition depth is within ±1 m from the melting point of ice at frequencies above ~300 MHz. At frequencies below ~155 MHz, the accuracy degrades because of reduced scattering efficiency that occurs when the scatterers become much smaller compared to the wavelength. The mapped spatial pattern of the englacial cold-temperate transition boundary is complex. This pattern reflects the observed spatial variation in net loss of ice at the surface by ablation and vertical advection of ice, which is suggested to provide the predominant forcing of the cold surface layer thickness pattern. This is further supported by thermomechanical modeling of the cold surface layer, which indicates high sensitivity of the cold surface layer thickness to changes in vertical advection rates. The water content is the least investigated quantity that is relevant for the thermal regime of glaciers, but also the most difficult to assess. Spatial variability of absolute water content in the temperate ice immediately below the cold surface layer on Storglaciären was determined by combining relative estimates of water content from ground-penetrating radar data with absolute determination from temperature measurements and the thermal boundary condition at the freezing front. These measurements indicate large-scale spatial variability in the water content, which seems to arise from variations in entrapment of water at the firn-ice transition. However, this variability cannot alone explain the spatial pattern in the thermal regime on Storglaciären. Repeated surveys of the cold surface layer show a 22% average thinning of the cold surface layer on Storglaciären between 1989 and 2001. Transient thermomechanical modeling results suggest that the cold surface layer adapts to new equilibrium conditions in only a few decades after a perturbation in the forcing is introduced. An increased winter air temperature since mid-1980s seems to be the cause of the observed thinning of the cold surface layer. Over the last decades, mass balance measurements indicate that the glacier has been close to a steady state. The quasi-steady state situation is also reflected in the vertical advection, which shows no significant changes during the last decades. Increased winter temperatures at the ice surface would result in a slow-down of the formation of cold ice at the base of the cold surface layer and lead to a larger imbalance between net loss of ice at the surface and freezing of temperate ice at the cold-temperate transition.

La creación de espacios en la dramaturgia de Lope de Vega

Programa de doctorado: Literatura y Teoría de la Literatura

Natural patterns and anthropogenic disturbance in north Adriatic marine benthic assemblages: descriptive and methodological studies

Marine soft bottom systems show a high variability across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Both natural and anthropogenic sources of disturbance act together in affecting benthic sedimentary characteristics and species distribution. The description of such spatial variability is required to understand the ecological processes behind them. However, in order to have a better estimate of spatial patterns, methods that take into account the complexity of the sedimentary system are required. This PhD thesis aims to give a significant contribution both in improving the methodological approaches to the study of biological variability in soft bottom habitats and in increasing the knowledge of the effect that different process (both natural and anthropogenic) could have on the benthic communities of a large area in the North Adriatic Sea. Beta diversity is a measure of the variability in species composition, and Whittaker’s index has become the most widely used measure of beta-diversity. However, application of the Whittaker index to soft bottom assemblages of the Adriatic Sea highlighted its sensitivity to rare species (species recorded in a single sample). This over-weighting of rare species induces biased estimates of the heterogeneity, thus it becomes difficult to compare assemblages containing a high proportion of rare species. In benthic communities, the unusual large number of rare species is frequently attributed to a combination of sampling errors and insufficient sampling effort. In order to reduce the influence of rare species on the measure of beta diversity, I have developed an alternative index based on simple probabilistic considerations. It turns out that this probability index is an ordinary Michaelis-Menten transformation of Whittaker's index but behaves more favourably when species heterogeneity increases. The suggested index therefore seems appropriate when comparing patterns of complexity in marine benthic assemblages. Although the new index makes an important contribution to the study of biodiversity in sedimentary environment, it remains to be seen which processes, and at what scales, influence benthic patterns. The ability to predict the effects of ecological phenomena on benthic fauna highly depends on both spatial and temporal scales of variation. Once defined, implicitly or explicitly, these scales influence the questions asked, the methodological approaches and the interpretation of results. Problem often arise when representative samples are not taken and results are over-generalized, as can happen when results from small-scale experiments are used for resource planning and management. Such issues, although globally recognized, are far from been resolved in the North Adriatic Sea. This area is potentially affected by both natural (e.g. river inflow, eutrophication) and anthropogenic (e.g. gas extraction, fish-trawling) sources of disturbance. Although few studies in this area aimed at understanding which of these processes mainly affect macrobenthos, these have been conducted at a small spatial scale, as they were designated to examine local changes in benthic communities or particular species. However, in order to better describe all the putative processes occurring in the entire area, a high sampling effort performed at a large spatial scale is required. The sedimentary environment of the western part of the Adriatic Sea was extensively studied in this thesis. I have described, in detail, spatial patterns both in terms of sedimentary characteristics and macrobenthic organisms and have suggested putative processes (natural or of human origin) that might affect the benthic environment of the entire area. In particular I have examined the effect of off shore gas platforms on benthic diversity and tested their effect over a background of natural spatial variability. The results obtained suggest that natural processes in the North Adriatic such as river outflow and euthrophication show an inter-annual variability that might have important consequences on benthic assemblages, affecting for example their spatial pattern moving away from the coast and along a North to South gradient. Depth-related factors, such as food supply, light, temperature and salinity play an important role in explaining large scale benthic spatial variability (i.e., affecting both the abundance patterns and beta diversity). Nonetheless, more locally, effects probably related to an organic enrichment or pollution from Po river input has been observed. All these processes, together with few human-induced sources of variability (e.g. fishing disturbance), have a higher effect on macrofauna distribution than any effect related to the presence of gas platforms. The main effect of gas platforms is restricted mainly to small spatial scales and related to a change in habitat complexity due to a natural dislodgement or structure cleaning of mussels that colonize their legs. The accumulation of mussels on the sediment reasonably affects benthic infauna composition. All the components of the study presented in this thesis highlight the need to carefully consider methodological aspects related to the study of sedimentary habitats. With particular regards to the North Adriatic Sea, a multi-scale analysis along natural and anthopogenic gradients was useful for detecting the influence of all the processes affecting the sedimentary environment. In the future, applying a similar approach may lead to an unambiguous assessment of the state of the benthic community in the North Adriatic Sea. Such assessment may be useful in understanding if any anthropogenic source of disturbance has a negative effect on the marine environment, and if so, planning sustainable strategies for a proper management of the affected area.

Investigations on formation and specification of neural precursor cells in the central nervous system of the Drosophila melanogaster embryo

Investigations on formation and specification of neural precursor cells in the central nervous system of the Drosophila melanogaster embryoSpecification of a unique cell fate during development of a multicellular organism often is a function of its position. The Drosophila central nervous system (CNS) provides an ideal system to dissect signalling events during development that lead to cell specific patterns. Different cell types in the CNS are formed from a relatively few precursor cells, the neuroblasts (NBs), which delaminate from the neurogenic region of the ectoderm. The delamination occurs in five waves, S1-S5, finally leading to a subepidermal layer consisting of about 30 NBs, each with a unique identity, arranged in a stereotyped spatial pattern in each hemisegment. This information depends on several factors such as the concentrations of various morphogens, cell-cell interactions and long range signals present at the position and time of its birth. The early NBs, delaminating during S1 and S2, form an orthogonal array of four rows (2/3,4,5,6/7) and three columns (medial, intermediate, and lateral) . However, the three column and four row-arrangement pattern is only transitory during early stages of neurogenesis which is obscured by late emerging (S3-S5) neuroblasts (Doe and Goodman, 1985; Goodman and Doe, 1993). Therefore the aim of my study has been to identify novel genes which play a role in the formation or specification of late delaminating NBs.In this study the gene anterior open or yan was picked up in a genetic screen to identity novel and yet unidentified genes in the process of late neuroblast formation and specification. I have shown that the gene yan is responsible for maintaining the cells of the neuroectoderm in an undifferentiated state by interfering with the Notch signalling mechanism. Secondly, I have studied the function and interactions of segment polarity genes within a certain neuroectodermal region, namely the engrailed (en) expressing domain, with regard to the fate specification of a set of late neuroblasts, namely NB 6-4 and NB 7-3. I have dissected the regulatory interaction of the segment polarity genes wingless (wg), hedgehog (hh) and engrailed (en) as they maintain each other’s expression to show that En is a prerequisite for neurogenesis and show that the interplay of the segmentation genes naked (nkd) and gooseberry (gsb), both of which are targets of wingless (wg) activity, leads to differential commitment of NB 7-3 and NB 6-4 cell fate. I have shown that in the absence of either nkd or gsb one NB fate is replaced by the other. However, the temporal sequence of delamination is maintained, suggesting that formation and specification of these two NBs are under independent control.

Multi-level models and infrastructures for simulating biological system development

The hierarchical organisation of biological systems plays a crucial role in the pattern formation of gene expression resulting from the morphogenetic processes, where autonomous internal dynamics of cells, as well as cell-to-cell interactions through membranes, are responsible for the emergent peculiar structures of the individual phenotype. Being able to reproduce the systems dynamics at different levels of such a hierarchy might be very useful for studying such a complex phenomenon of self-organisation. The idea is to model the phenomenon in terms of a large and dynamic network of compartments, where the interplay between inter-compartment and intra-compartment events determines the emergent behaviour resulting in the formation of spatial patterns. According to these premises the thesis proposes a review of the different approaches already developed in modelling developmental biology problems, as well as the main models and infrastructures available in literature for modelling biological systems, analysing their capabilities in tackling multi-compartment / multi-level models. The thesis then introduces a practical framework, MS-BioNET, for modelling and simulating these scenarios exploiting the potential of multi-level dynamics. This is based on (i) a computational model featuring networks of compartments and an enhanced model of chemical reaction addressing molecule transfer, (ii) a logic-oriented language to flexibly specify complex simulation scenarios, and (iii) a simulation engine based on the many-species/many-channels optimised version of Gillespie’s direct method. The thesis finally proposes the adoption of the agent-based model as an approach capable of capture multi-level dynamics. To overcome the problem of parameter tuning in the model, the simulators are supplied with a module for parameter optimisation. The task is defined as an optimisation problem over the parameter space in which the objective function to be minimised is the distance between the output of the simulator and a target one. The problem is tackled with a metaheuristic algorithm. As an example of application of the MS-BioNET framework and of the agent-based model, a model of the first stages of Drosophila Melanogaster development is realised. The model goal is to generate the early spatial pattern of gap gene expression. The correctness of the models is shown comparing the simulation results with real data of gene expression with spatial and temporal resolution, acquired in free on-line sources.

Global simulated soil biogenic nitric oxide (NO) emissions: Impact, improvement and innovation

rnNitric oxide (NO) is important for several chemical processes in the atmosphere. Together with nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) it is better known as nitrogen oxide (NOx ). NOx is crucial for the production and destruction of ozone. In several reactions it catalyzes the oxidation of methane and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and in this context it is involved in the cycling of the hydroxyl radical (OH). OH is a reactive radical, capable of oxidizing most organic species. Therefore, OH is also called the “detergent” of the atmosphere. Nitric oxide originates from several sources: fossil fuel combustion, biomass burning, lightning and soils. Fossil fuel combustion is the largest source. The others are, depending on the reviewed literature, generally comparable to each other. The individual sources show a different temporal and spatial pattern in their magnitude of emission. Fossil fuel combustion is important in densely populated places, where NO from other sources is less important. In contrast NO emissions from soils (hereafter SNOx) or biomass burning are the dominant source of NOx in remote regions.rnBy applying an atmospheric chemistry global climate model (AC-GCM) I demonstrate that SNOx is responsible for a significant part of NOx in the atmosphere. Furthermore, it increases the O3 and OH mixing ratio substantially, leading to a ∼10% increase in the oxidizing efficiency of the atmosphere. Interestingly, through reduced O3 and OH mixing ratios in simulations without SNOx, the lifetime of NOx increases in regions with other dominating sources of NOx

Sviluppo di un sistema bci eeg-based per il controllo del movimento di un modello di arto superiore

Nel presente lavoro di tesi è stato sviluppato e testato un sistema BCI EEG-based che sfrutta la modulazione dei ritmi sensorimotori tramite immaginazione motoria della mano destra e della mano sinistra. Per migliorare la separabilità dei due stati mentali, in questo lavoro di tesi si è sfruttato l'algoritmo CSP (Common Spatial Pattern), in combinazione ad un classificatore lineare SVM. I due stati mentali richiesti sono stati impiegati per controllare il movimento (rotazione) di un modello di arto superiore a 1 grado di libertà, simulato sullo schermo. Il cuore del lavoro di tesi è consistito nello sviluppo del software del sistema BCI (basato su piattaforma LabVIEW 2011), descritto nella tesi. L'intero sistema è stato poi anche testato su 4 soggetti, per 6 sessioni di addestramento.

Differential patterns of multisensory interactions in core and belt areas of human auditory cortex

The auditory cortex is anatomically segregated into a central core and a peripheral belt region, which exhibit differences in preference to bandpassed noise and in temporal patterns of response to acoustic stimuli. While it has been shown that visual stimuli can modify response magnitude in auditory cortex, little is known about differential patterns of multisensory interactions in core and belt. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and examined the influence of a short visual stimulus presented prior to acoustic stimulation on the spatial pattern of blood oxygen level-dependent signal response in auditory cortex. Consistent with crossmodal inhibition, the light produced a suppression of signal response in a cortical region corresponding to the core. In the surrounding areas corresponding to the belt regions, however, we found an inverse modulation with an increasing signal in centrifugal direction. Our data suggest that crossmodal effects are differentially modulated according to the hierarchical core-belt organization of auditory cortex.

On the variability of return periods of European winter precipitation extremes over the last three centuries

We investigate the changes of extreme European winter (December-February) precipitation back to 1700 and show for various European regions that return periods of extremely wet and dry winters are subject to significant changes both before and after the onset of anthropogenic influences. Generally, winter precipitation has become more extreme. We also examine the spatial pattern of the changes of the extremes covering the last 300 years where data quality is sufficient. Over central and Eastern Europe dry winters occurred more frequently during the 18th and the second part of the 19th century relative to 1951–2000. Dry winters were less frequent during both the 18th and 19th century over the British Isles and the Mediterranean. Wet winters have been less abundant during the last three centuries compared to 1951–2000 except during the early 18th century in central Europe. Although winter precipitation extremes are affected by climate change, no obvious connection of these changes was found to solar, volcanic or anthropogenic forcing. However, physically meaningful interpretation with atmospheric circulation changes was possible.

Investigating the consistency between proxy-based reconstructions and climate models using data assimilation: a mid-Holocene case study

The mid-Holocene (6 kyr BP; thousand years before present) is a key period to study the consistency between model results and proxy-based reconstruction data as it corresponds to a standard test for models and a reasonable number of proxy-based records is available. Taking advantage of this relatively large amount of information, we have compared a compilation of 50 air and sea surface temperature reconstructions with the results of three simulations performed with general circulation models and one carried out with LOVECLIM, a model of intermediate complexity. The conclusions derived from this analysis confirm that models and data agree on the large-scale spatial pattern but the models underestimate the magnitude of some observed changes and that large discrepancies are observed at the local scale. To further investigate the origin of those inconsistencies, we have constrained LOVECLIM to follow the signal recorded by the proxies selected in the compilation using a data-assimilation method based on a particle filter. In one simulation, all the 50 proxy-based records are used while in the other two only the continental or oceanic proxy-based records constrain the model results. As expected, data assimilation leads to improving the consistency between model results and the reconstructions. In particular, this is achieved in a robust way in all the experiments through a strengthening of the westerlies at midlatitude that warms up northern Europe. Furthermore, the comparison of the LOVECLIM simulations with and without data assimilation has also objectively identified 16 proxy-based paleoclimate records whose reconstructed signal is either incompatible with the signal recorded by some other proxy-based records or with model physics.

Evidence that the novel receptor FGFRL1 signals indirectly via FGFR1

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor-like protein 1 (FGFRL1) is a recently discovered member of the FGF receptor (FGFR) family. Similar to the classical FGFRs, it contains three extracellular immunoglobulin-like domains and interacts with FGF ligands. However, in contrast to the classical receptors, it does not contain any intracellular tyrosine kinase domain and consequently cannot signal by transphosphorylation. In mouse kidneys, FgfrL1 is expressed primarily at embryonic stages E14-E15 in regions where nascent nephrons develop. In this study, we used whole-mount in situ hybridization to show the spatial pattern of five different Fgfrs in the developing mouse kidney. We compared the expression pattern of FgfrL1 with that of other Fgfrs. The expression pattern of FgfrL1 closely resembled that of Fgfr1, but clearly differed from that of Fgfr2‑Fgfr4. It is therefore conceivable that FgfrL1 signals indirectly via Fgfr1. The mechanisms by which FgfrL1 affects the activity of Fgfr1 remain to be elucidated.

DYSREGULATION OF MEOX2 FOLLOWING WT1 MUTATION IN KIDNEY DEVELOPMENT AND WILMS TUMORIGENESIS

Wilms tumor (WT) is a childhood tumor of the kidney and a productive model for understanding the role of genetic alteration and interactions in tumorigenesis. The Wilms tumor gene 1 (WT1) is a transcriptional factor and one of the few genes known to have genetic alterations in WT and has been shown be inactivated in 20% of WTs. However, the mechanisms of how WT1 mutations lead to Wilms tumorigenesis and its influence on downstream genes are unknown. Since it has been established that WT1 is a transcriptional regulator, it has been hypothesized that the loss of WT1 leads to the dysregulation of downstream genes, in turn result in the formation of WTs. To identify the dysregulated downstream genes following WT1 mutations, an Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome Array was previously conducted to assess the differentially expressed genes in the WT1-wildtype human and WT1-mutant human WTs. Approximately 700 genes were identified as being significantly dysregulated. These genes were further prioritized based on their statistical significance, fold change, chromosomal region, spatial pattern of gene expression and known or putative cellular functions. Mesenchyme homeobox 2 (MEOX2) was one of the most significantly upregulated genes in WT1-mutant WT. MEOX2 is known to play a role in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. In addition to its biological roles, it is expressed during early kidney development in the condensed mesenchyme similar to WT1. Furthermore, the use of the Match® web-based tool from the BIOBASE Biological Data base identified a significant predicted WT1 binding site within the first intron of MEOX2. The similarity in spatial gene expression in the developing kidney and the significant predicted WT1 binding site found in the first intron of MEOX2 lead to the development of my hypothesis that MEOX2 is upregulated via a WT1-dependent manner. Here as a part of my master’s work, I have validated the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome Array data using an independent set of Wilms tumors. MEOX2 remained upregulated in the mutant WT1 Wilms tumor by 41-fold. Wt1 and Meox2 gene expression were assessed in murine newborn kidney; both Wt1 and Meox2 were expressed in the condensed, undifferentiated metanephric mesenchyme. I have shown that the in vivo ablation of Wt1 during embryonic development at embryonic day (E) 13.5 resulted in the slight increase of Meox2 gene expression by two fold. In order to functionally demonstrate the effect of the loss of Wt1 on Meox2 gene expression in undifferentiated metanephric mesenchyme, I have generated a kidney mesenchymal cell line to genetically ablate Wt1 in vitro by adenoviral infection. The ablation of Wt1 in the kidney mesenchymal cell line resulted in the upregulation of Meox2 by 61-fold. Moreover, the upregulation of Meox2 resulted in the significant induction of p21 and Itgb5. In addition to the dysregulation of these genes the ablation of Wt1 in the kidney mesenchymal cells resulted in decrease in cell growth and loss of cellular adherence. However, it is uncertain whether the upregulation of Meox2 caused this particular cellular phenotype. Overall, I have demonstrated that the upregulation of Meox2 is Wt1-dependent during early kidney development.

Validation of climate model-inferred regional temperature change for late-glacial Europe

Comparisons of climate model hindcasts with independent proxy data are essential for assessing model performance in non-analogue situations. However, standardized palaeoclimate data sets for assessing the spatial pattern of past climatic change across continents are lacking for some of the most dynamic episodes of Earth’s recent past. Here we present a new chironomid-based palaeotemperature dataset designed to assess climate model hindcasts of regional summer temperature change in Europe during the late-glacial and early Holocene. Latitudinal and longitudinal patterns of inferred temperature change are in excellent agreement with simulations by the ECHAM-4 model, implying that atmospheric general circulation models like ECHAM-4 can successfully predict regionally diverging temperature trends in Europe, even when conditions differ significantly from present. However, ECHAM-4 infers larger amplitudes of change and higher temperatures during warm phases than our palaeotemperature estimates, suggesting that this and similar models may overestimate past and potentially also future summer temperature changes in Europe.

Projected pH reductions by 2100 might put deep North Atlantic biodiversity at risk

This study aims to evaluate the potential for impacts of ocean acidification on North Atlantic deep-sea ecosystems in response to IPCC AR5 Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). Deep-sea biota is likely highly vulnerable to changes in seawater chemistry and sensitive to moderate excursions in pH. Here we show, from seven fully coupled Earth system models, that for three out of four RCPs over 17% of the seafloor area below 500 m depth in the North Atlantic sector will experience pH reductions exceeding −0.2 units by 2100. Increased stratification in response to climate change partially alleviates the impact of ocean acidification on deep benthic environments. We report on major pH reductions over the deep North Atlantic seafloor (depth >500 m) and at important deep-sea features, such as seamounts and canyons. By 2100, and under the high CO2 scenario RCP8.5, pH reductions exceeding −0.2 (−0.3) units are projected in close to 23% (~15%) of North Atlantic deep-sea canyons and ~8% (3%) of seamounts – including seamounts proposed as sites of marine protected areas. The spatial pattern of impacts reflects the depth of the pH perturbation and does not scale linearly with atmospheric CO2 concentration. Impacts may cause negative changes of the same magnitude or exceeding the current target of 10% of preservation of marine biomes set by the convention on biological diversity, implying that ocean acidification may offset benefits from conservation/management strategies relying on the regulation of resource exploitation.