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      Ocean acidification impacts on coastal ecosystem services due to habitat degradation

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          Abstract

          The oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions is changing seawater chemistry in a process known as ocean acidification. The chemistry of this rapid change in surface waters is well understood and readily detectable in oceanic observations, yet there is uncertainty about the effects of ocean acidification on society since it is difficult to scale-up from laboratory and mesocosm tests. Here, we provide a synthesis of the likely effects of ocean acidification on ecosystem properties, functions and services based on observations along natural gradients in pCO 2. Studies at CO 2 seeps worldwide show that biogenic habitats are particularly sensitive to ocean acidification and that their degradation results in less coastal protection and less habitat provisioning for fisheries. The risks to marine goods and services amplify with increasing acidification causing shifts to macroalgal dominance, habitat degradation and a loss of biodiversity at seep sites in the tropics, the sub-tropics and on temperate coasts. Based on this empirical evidence, we expect ocean acidification to have serious consequences for the millions of people who are dependent on coastal protection, fisheries and aquaculture. If humanity is able to make cuts in fossil fuel emissions, this will reduce costs to society and avoid the changes in coastal ecosystems seen in areas with projected pCO 2 levels. A binding international agreement for the oceans should build on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to ‘minimise and address the impacts of ocean acidification’.

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          Most cited references51

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          Volcanic carbon dioxide vents show ecosystem effects of ocean acidification.

          The atmospheric partial pressure of carbon dioxide (p(CO(2))) will almost certainly be double that of pre-industrial levels by 2100 and will be considerably higher than at any time during the past few million years. The oceans are a principal sink for anthropogenic CO(2) where it is estimated to have caused a 30% increase in the concentration of H(+) in ocean surface waters since the early 1900s and may lead to a drop in seawater pH of up to 0.5 units by 2100 (refs 2, 3). Our understanding of how increased ocean acidity may affect marine ecosystems is at present very limited as almost all studies have been in vitro, short-term, rapid perturbation experiments on isolated elements of the ecosystem. Here we show the effects of acidification on benthic ecosystems at shallow coastal sites where volcanic CO(2) vents lower the pH of the water column. Along gradients of normal pH (8.1-8.2) to lowered pH (mean 7.8-7.9, minimum 7.4-7.5), typical rocky shore communities with abundant calcareous organisms shifted to communities lacking scleractinian corals with significant reductions in sea urchin and coralline algal abundance. To our knowledge, this is the first ecosystem-scale validation of predictions that these important groups of organisms are susceptible to elevated amounts of p(CO(2)). Sea-grass production was highest in an area at mean pH 7.6 (1,827 (mu)atm p(CO(2))) where coralline algal biomass was significantly reduced and gastropod shells were dissolving due to periods of carbonate sub-saturation. The species populating the vent sites comprise a suite of organisms that are resilient to naturally high concentrations of p(CO(2)) and indicate that ocean acidification may benefit highly invasive non-native algal species. Our results provide the first in situ insights into how shallow water marine communities might change when susceptible organisms are removed owing to ocean acidification.
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            Interactions among ecosystem stressors and their importance in conservation.

            Interactions between multiple ecosystem stressors are expected to jeopardize biological processes, functions and biodiversity. The scientific community has declared stressor interactions-notably synergies-a key issue for conservation and management. Here, we review ecological literature over the past four decades to evaluate trends in the reporting of ecological interactions (synergies, antagonisms and additive effects) and highlight the implications and importance to conservation. Despite increasing popularity, and ever-finer terminologies, we find that synergies are (still) not the most prevalent type of interaction, and that conservation practitioners need to appreciate and manage for all interaction outcomes, including antagonistic and additive effects. However, it will not be possible to identify the effect of every interaction on every organism's physiology and every ecosystem function because the number of stressors, and their potential interactions, are growing rapidly. Predicting the type of interactions may be possible in the near-future, using meta-analyses, conservation-oriented experiments and adaptive monitoring. Pending a general framework for predicting interactions, conservation management should enact interventions that are robust to uncertainty in interaction type and that continue to bolster biological resilience in a stressful world.
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              Multiple Stressors in a Changing World: The Need for an Improved Perspective on Physiological Responses to the Dynamic Marine Environment.

              Abiotic conditions (e.g., temperature and pH) fluctuate through time in most marine environments, sometimes passing intensity thresholds that induce physiological stress. Depending on habitat and season, the peak intensity of different abiotic stressors can occur in or out of phase with one another. Thus, some organisms are exposed to multiple stressors simultaneously, whereas others experience them sequentially. Understanding these physicochemical dynamics is critical because how organisms respond to multiple stressors depends on the magnitude and relative timing of each stressor. Here, we first discuss broad patterns of covariation between stressors in marine systems at various temporal scales. We then describe how these dynamics will influence physiological responses to multi-stressor exposures. Finally, we summarize how multi-stressor effects are currently assessed. We find that multi-stressor experiments have rarely incorporated naturalistic physicochemical variation into their designs, and emphasize the importance of doing so to make ecologically relevant inferences about physiological responses to global change.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Emerg Top Life Sci
                Emerg Top Life Sci
                ETLS
                Emerging Topics in Life Sciences
                Portland Press Ltd.
                2397-8554
                2397-8562
                10 May 2019
                26 April 2019
                : 3
                : 2 , Adapting to Climate Change: People and Biology
                : 197-206
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, U.K.
                [2 ]Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Shimoda, Japan
                Author notes
                Correspondence: Ben P. Harvey ( harvey.benjaminpaul@ 123456gmail.com )
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4971-1634
                Article
                ETLS-3-197
                10.1042/ETLS20180117
                7289009
                33523154
                8bb9a60c-db0a-4881-b2be-5e0dbe32138f
                © 2019 The Author(s)

                This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).

                History
                : 11 February 2019
                : 4 April 2019
                : 5 April 2019
                Categories
                Zoology & Marine Biology
                Ecology & Environmental Biochemistry
                Society & Bioethics
                Review Articles

                co2 seeps,goods and services,ipcc,marine biodiversity,paris agreement on climate change,un sustainable development goals

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