image: Early stage red abalone from farmed and wild collected populations were raised in an ocean acidification simulation system housed at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory view more
Credit: Daniel S. Swezey
A multigenerational study of red abalone reveals that energy provisioning to offspring from mothers as well as larval metabolism are strongly correlated with survival and resilience under ocean acidification. As oceans absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide, their pH decreases, presenting a danger to marine life and ecosystems, especially shellfish. Daniel S. Swezey and colleagues traced traits of early stage red abalone that might confer resistance to acidification stress. The authors created two experimental populations of abalone by collecting individuals from two areas of coastal California, one from an area with strong upwelling and naturally low pH and one from an aquaculture farm in an area with normal pH. Under experimental high CO2 conditions, offspring bred from adults taken from the historically acidic area showed different responses to acidification than the farm population. The former group survived at higher rates under acidification, provisioning and metabolizing lipids differently while growing more slowly. Analysis of subsequent generations and crosses suggested that the lipid metabolism trait is heritable. According to the authors, incorporating resistance traits into abalone populations used for both commercial and restoration purposes could help protect against losses to due to climate change.
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ARTICLE #20-06910: "Evolved differences in energy metabolism and growth dictate the impacts of ocean acidification on abalone aquaculture," by Daniel S. Swezey et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Daniel S. Swezey, University of California, Davis, Bodega Bay, CA; tel: 831-345-6108, 707-875-1925; e-mail: dsswezey@ucdavis.edu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences