Acidifying Oceans Dramatically Stunt Growth of Already Threatened Shellfish, Research Finds

New research shows that global warming and its effects -- in particular, ocean acidification -- have descended upon shellfish reefs, particularly those formed by the Olympia oyster.

More than one-third of the world's human-caused carbon dioxide emissions have entered the oceans, according to Brian Gaylord, a biological oceanographer at the Bodega Marine Laboratory of the University of California at Davis.

"Similar to what happens in carbonated soda," says Gaylord, "increasing carbon dioxide in seawater makes it more acidic."

Even with small changes in acidity, seawater becomes corrosive to the shells of aquatic organisms.

That's not good news for most marine life, especially for oysters.

Gaylord is investigating the consequences of this increasing ocean acidity on the growth of larval and juvenile Olympia oysters native to the U.S. West Coast.

"Such early life stages can be extremely sensitive to environmental stresses like ocean acidification," says Gaylord.

"These stages operate as bottlenecks that drive overall population numbers. If larval and juvenile Olympia oysters decline as a result of an acidifying ocean, what does that mean for the species as a whole?"

Likely nothing good, he and colleagues say.

"Changes now happening in the ocean's chemistry are expected to continue far into the foreseeable future," says David Garrison, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s biological oceanography program, which funds Gaylord's research. "They may have myriad effects on marine animals."

Gaylord conducted experiments on larvae and juveniles produced by adult oysters in Tomales Bay, California. Adults were collected in the bay, then held at the Bodega Marine Laboratory until they released larvae.

In the lab, the free-swimming larvae were reared into early juvenile life.

Carbon dioxide concentrations in laboratory seawater were controlled to match present-day conditions in the oceans, 380 parts per million (ppm), as well as two carbon dioxide scenarios projected to occur by the year 2100 (540 and 970 ppm).

Mid-way through the larval phase at day nine, oysters in the high carbon dioxide treatment had shells that were 16 percent smaller than those reared in control, or ambient, conditions.

These effects continued through the time the larval oysters settled onto hard substrate at day 12. Shell size was seven percent smaller for oysters in the 970 ppm treatment than in the control group.

By a week later, the effects were dramatically magnified. The bottom-dwelling juveniles in the 970 ppm treatment had grown 41 percent less than juveniles under control conditions.

The consequences persisted, even after the juveniles from all treatments had been returned to present-day conditions.

"One and a half months after being transferred back to normal seawater," says Gaylord, "juveniles that had come from the high carbon dioxide environment were still 28 percent smaller than oysters reared for the entire experiment in control conditions."

The results strongly suggest that the effects of ocean acidification on oyster larvae persist well into the juvenile phase, he says, with potential consequences for oyster populations.

"If similar impacts happen to species beyond the Olympia oyster, there could be repercussions for oysters around the world."

Globally, 85 percent of shellfish reefs have been lost, making oyster reefs one of the most severely threatened marine habitats on the planet.

"Shellfish reefs in some places are at less than 10 percent of their former abundance," says Garrison. "Oysters have gone extinct in many areas, especially in North America, Australia and Europe."

Just as coral reefs are critical to tropical marine habitats, shellfish like oysters are the ecosystem engineers of bays and estuaries, creating dwelling places for countless plants and animals that find refuge in their three-dimensional structure.

The surface area of an oyster bed across its dips and folds and crevices may be 50 times greater than that of an equally extensive flat mud bottom.

Shellfish reefs also provide important services to people by filtering water, and serving as natural coastal buffers from boat wakes, sea-level rise and storms.

Oysters have supported civilization for millennia, from the ancient Romans to railroad workers in California in the 1880s. In the 1870s, eastern oyster reefs extended for miles along the James River in Chesapeake Bay. By the 1940s, they had largely disappeared.

"It's unclear whether we will ever be able to return to that by-gone era," says Gaylord. "The constellation of environmental and other pressures on oysters--including the consequences of ocean acidification--places them at grave risk."

Gaylord and colleagues presented early results of their research at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon, in February. They plan to publish a paper with updated findings later this year.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by National Science Foundation.

Long-Distance Journeys out of Fashion? Global Warming May Be Causing Evolutionary Changes in Bird Migration

The results of genetic studies on migratory birds substantiate the theory that in the case of a continued global warming, and within only a few generations, migratory birds will -- subject to strong selection and microevolution -- at first begin to fly shorter distances and at a later stage, stop migrating, and will thus become so-called "residents."



The locomotory activity (restlessness) of migratory birds can be recorded quantitatively in environment-controlled chambers. Such cages are equipped with movable perches, which are coupled to micro-switches. (Credit: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology)

In a selection experiment with blackcaps from southwest Germany, Francisco Pulido and Peter Berthold at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell were able to show that first non-migratory birds are to be found in a completely migratory bird population after only two generations of directional selection for lower migratory activity. The strong evolutionary reduction in migration distance found in this study is in line with the expected adaptive changes in bird migration in response to environmental alterations caused by climatic change.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (April 5, 2010).

For generations, humans have been watching flocks of migrating birds flying to their winter quarters in the autumn, and awaiting their loud songs announcing their happy return in the spring. The timing of their migration is adjusted to the availability of resources, such as food and habitats, in the stopover areas as well as in the non-breeding and breeding areas. For migratory birds it is essential to be in the right place at the right time.

For some years, it has been possible to demonstrate using data collected in the wild that some species of migratory birds respond to the increase in temperature and to the subsequent changes in the environment. The blackcap is one of the species where changes in migratory behaviour have been most consistent. Today, blackcaps return to their breeding sites earlier, lay their eggs earlier, and leave us later in the autumn. One population even established a new wintering area in the British Isles, instead of flying all the way to Spain. Because of its large genetic variation, the researchers expected rapid adaptation to altered environmental conditions in this species, which is a model for investigating the evolution of bird migration.

The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology wanted to find out what the mechanisms were for adjusting to global warming, whether there were measurable changes in migratory behaviour within a period with a strong temperature increase, and whether these changes, above all the reduced migratory distance, were an individual adjustment to altered environmental conditions, or whether the genetic composition of the populations would change.

During the period 1988 -- 2001, which were years with particularly high temperatures, blackcap nestlings were taken from their nests each year (757 birds in total) and reared by hand in the lab. The seasonal changes in light-dark transition were simulated and the migratory restlessness of the inexperienced young birds was measured in autumn. The duration of their restless behaviour during the night, i.e. the fluttering and hopping along the perch corresponded approximately to the duration of the flight to their winter quarters.

The birds that were taken from their natural habitat during these 14 years showed a significant reduction in their migratory activity. In their natural habitat this would be equivalent to a shortening of flying distance. This reduction, as the researchers were able to prove, was based on a change in the genetic composition of the population, i.e. evolution.

In a second experiment, the scientists simulated the selection process they had observed in nature in the laboratory, but in "time lapse." The birds with the least migratory activity and their offspring were paired over four generations. In order to avoid inbreeding, the researchers paired 50% of this line with birds in their natural habitat that showed a particularly weak migratory restlessness. After two generations, the first "resident" birds were already to be found in this population. Hence, directional selection for lower migratory activity leads to the evolution of partial migratory populations and, finally, to populations that do not leave their breeding areas at all.

The advantages for the birds are obvious: The shortening of migration distance saves energy and time. Moreover, because shorter days, as experienced in more northern wintering areas, induce an advancement of migratory activity and reproduction, birds migrating shorter distances will occupy the best breeding territories and may produce multiple broods in a year. "We assume that the reduction in migration distance is the first and most significant evolutionary mechanism that migratory birds have for adapting to changed climatic conditions," explains Francisco Pulido. "For birds that migrate short to average distances of approximately 1,000 km, and in which migratory behaviour is genetically determined, as is the case with most songbirds, this can be a successful strategy for survival. However, for long-distance migrants, for which successful migration will depend on overcoming ecological barriers such as desert or sea, this mechanism of adaptation cannot work, as a reduction of migration distance would mean spending the winter in a hostile environment, in which they cannot not survive."


Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

Journal Reference:

1. Francisco Pulido and Peter Berthold. Current selection for lower migratory activity will drive the evolution of residency in a migratory bird population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910361107

Global Warming Likely to Significantly Affect Rainfall Patterns

Climate models project that the global average temperature will rise about 1°C by the middle of the century, if we continue with business as usual and emit greenhouse gases as we have been. The global average, though, does not tell us anything about what will happen to regional climates, for example rainfall in the western United States or in paradisical islands like Hawai'i.


This diagram shows global warming pattern formation in sea surface temperature and rainfall. (Credit: Xie, S.-P., C. Deser, G.A. Vecchi, J. Ma, H. Teng, and A.T. Wittenberg, 2010.)

Analyzing global model warming projections in models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a team of scientists headed by meteorologist Shang-Ping Xie at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa's International Pacific Research Center, finds that ocean temperature patterns in the tropics and subtropics will change in ways that will lead to significant changes in rainfall patterns. The study will be published in the Journal of Climate this month, breaking ground on such regional climate forecasts.

Scientists have mostly assumed that the surfaces of Earth's oceans will warm rather evenly in the tropics. This assumption has led to "wetter-gets-wetter" and "drier-gets-drier" regional rainfall projections. Xie's team has gathered evidence that, although ocean surface temperatures can be expected to increase mostly everywhere by the middle of the century, the increase may differ by up to 1.5°C depending upon the region.

"Compared to the mean projected rise of 1°C, such differences are fairly large and can have a pronounced impact on tropical and subtropical climate by altering atmospheric heating patterns and therefore rainfall," explains Xie. "Our results broadly indicate that regions of peak sea surface temperature will get wetter, and those relatively cool will get drier."

Two patterns stand out. First, the maximum temperature rise in the Pacific is along a broad band at the equator. Already today the equatorial Pacific sets the rhythm of a global climate oscillation as shown by the world-wide impact of El Niño. This broad band of peak temperature on the equator changes the atmospheric heating in the models. By anchoring a rainband similar to that during an El Nino, it influences climate around the world through atmospheric teleconnections.

A second ocean warming pattern with major impact on rainfall noted by Xie and his colleagues occurs in the Indian Ocean and would affect the lives of billions of people. Overlayed on Indian Ocean warming for part of the year is what scientists call the Indian Ocean Dipole that occasionally occurs today once every decade or so. Thus, the models show that warming in the western Indian Ocean is amplified, reaching 1.5°C, while the eastern Indian Ocean it is dampened to around 0.5°C.

"Should this pattern come about," Xie predicts, "it can be expected to dramatically shift rainfall over eastern Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Droughts could then beset Indonesia and Australia, whereas regions of India and regions of Africa bordering the Arabian Sea could get more rain than today."

Patterns of sea surface temperature warming and precipitation change in 2050 as compared with 2000. Annual mean precipitation change is shown in green/gray shade and white contours in mm/month. Precipitation tends to increase over regions with ocean warming above the tropical mean (contours of warm colors in oC), and to decrease where ocean warming is below the tropical mean (contours of cool colors).

Fighting for the beaches

Fighting for the beaches

Reclaiming land in Ghana

Written by Lynn

An ambitious sea defence scheme in Ghana could have been successful but the job is not finished and thousands of homes still flood annually.

In Keta, South Eastern Ghana, land was being eroded at up to 14metres a year. Since 1900, 100s of metres of land were lost including houses, churches and even the chief’s palace. The town on a narrow sand bar between the Atlantic and Keta Lagoon, which floods during the rainy season, was threatened from two sides.

In 1999 Ghana’s government secured a loan from the US Exim bank and started an US$84million scheme - a combination of groynes, a revetment and raising the level of the land near the lagoon. A sluice gate was built so flood water from the lagoon could run into the sea.
The four year project did not go as planned. The government was supposed to build 800 houses for people displaced by land reclamation work but only 230 families received new homes. A further 70 houses, in various states of completion, lie empty apparently because the contractors have not been paid. The remaining 500 homes have not materialised so people have moved away, are staying with family or living in temporary houses.

In the village of Vodza only a third of the land has been raised and thousands of residents continue to live in houses below the level of the lagoon, experiencing annual flooding so severe they visit neighbours by canoe.

Resident engineer, Rex Edeckor, is frustrated the work has not been completed. He said: “The government would love to build these places but there’s no money in the coffers.” He explained, despite flooding, the sluice gate has never been operated because of fears people will be swept out to sea and that fish will escape.

The sea defences are protecting the town from erosion but the government has not awarded a contract for their monitoring, so cannot benefit from the contractor’s 10-year guarantee. Within 15 years more sand will need to be pumped on to the beaches but Edeckor suspects the government has no money for this either.

Despite the millions spent, it seems this scheme can only be a temporary measure and if, or when, the sea level rises the work will have been largely in vain.

Edeckor predicted: “If sea level changes by one metre perhaps a third of Keta district will be flooded.”

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