Ocean Acidification in a Complex, Dynamic Coastal Zone: Consequences of Overlapping Environmental Mosaics on Mussel Performance and Species Interactions

Kristy Kroeker1, Eric Sanford2, Jeremy M Rose3, Carol A Blanchette4, Francis Chan3, Francisco Chavez5, Geoffrey F Dilly6, Brian Gaylord7, Brian Helmuth8, Tessa M Hill9, Gretchen E Hofmann10, Kelly M Laughlin11, Margaret Anne McManus12, Bruce A Menge13, Karina Johanne Nielsen14, Peter Raimondi1, Ann D Russell15 and Libe Washburn16, (1)University of California Santa Cruz, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (2)University of California Davis, Department of Evolution and Ecology, Davis, CA, United States, (3)Oregon State University, Department of Integrative Biology, Corvallis, OR, United States, (4)University of California Santa Barbara, Marine Sciences Institute, (5)Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Biological Oceanography, Watsonville, CA, United States, (6)University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, (7)Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis, Bodega Bay, CA, United States, (8)Northeastern University, Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Nahant, MA, United States, (9)University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States, (10)University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, United States, (11)Bodega Marine Laboratory, UC Davis, Bodega Bay, CA, United States, (12)University of Hawaii at Manoa, Oceanography, Honolulu, HI, United States, (13)Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States, (14)Romberg Tiburon Center, Tiburon, CA, United States, (15)University of California Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, United States, (16)University of California Santa Barbara, Marine Science Institute and Department of Geography, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
Abstract:
Species inhabit a complex, geographic mosaic of environmental conditions that influences their performance and abundance. As our global environment continues to change, non-intuitive spatial patterns in species’ vulnerability or resilience may occur if the effects are dependent on other environmental conditions that vary geographically. In this presentation, we explore how the ecological effects of ocean acidification can depend on interactions with other factors in the coastal zone. We use persistent, overlapping environmental mosaics in an upwelling-dominated large marine ecosystem to examine how carbonate chemistry (pCO2/pH), food availability, and temperature combine to mediate the growth and predation vulnerability of juvenile California mussels Mytilus californianus. Among seven sites spanning over 1200 km in the California Current System, we find that the highest mussel growth and lowest predation vulnerability occurs in dynamic, upwelling environments with frequent exposure to high pCO2/low pH seawater and consistently high food availability, as indexed by chlorophyll-a. In contrast, growth was lowest and predation vulnerability was highest in locations where the frequent exposure to high pCO2/low pH seawater was decoupled from high food availability (e.g., locations with persistent upwelling), or in locations with exceptionally warm low-tide temperatures. These results illustrate how layered interactions among multiple environmental drivers can cause complex geographic patterns in species performance, interactions, and resilience to environmental changes that vary over both regional and fine spatial scales. Moreover, our results suggest that pCO2 and pH measurements or forecasts alone are insufficient to evaluate ecological consequences of ocean acidification.
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