Climate change alters shellfish reef communities: A temperate mesocosm experiment

Victoria J Cole; Laura M Parker; Elliot Scanes; John Wright; Lauren Barnett; Pauline M Ross

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113113

Climate change alters shellfish reef communities: A temperate mesocosm experiment

Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Dec;173(Pt B):113113. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113113. Epub 2021 Nov 9.

Authors

Victoria J Cole¹, Laura M Parker², Elliot Scanes³, John Wright⁴, Lauren Barnett⁵, Pauline M Ross⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; NSW Department of Primary Industries, Port Stephens Fisheries Institute, Taylors Beach, NSW 2316, Australia. Electronic address: Victoria.Cole@dpi.nsw.gov.au.
² School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia.
³ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology, Sydney, Ultimo 2007, Australia.
⁴ School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁵ School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Penrith South DC 1797, Australia.

PMID: 34768191
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113113

Abstract

Climate change is expected to cause significant changes to rocky shore diversity. This study used outdoor mesocosms to test the predictions that warming and ocean acidification will alter the responses of native Trichomya hirsuta and introduced Mytilus galloprovincialis mussels, and their associated communities of infauna. Experiments consisted of orthogonal combinations of temperature (ambient 22 °C or elevated 25 °C), pCO₂ (ambient 400 μatm or elevated 1000 μatm), mussel species (T. hirsuta or M. galloprovincialis), and mussel configuration (native, introduced, or both), with n = 3 replicates. Elevated pCO₂ reduced the growth of T. hirsuta but not that of M. galloprovincialis, and warming and pCO₂ influenced the infauna that colonised both species of mussels. There was a reduction in infaunal molluscs and an increase in polychaetes; there was, however, no effect on crustaceans. Results from this study suggest that climate-driven changes from one mussel species to another can significantly influence infaunal communities.

Keywords: Facilitation; Non-indigenous species; Ocean acidification; Ocean warming; Recruitment.

MeSH terms

Animals
Climate Change*
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Mytilus*
Seawater
Shellfish