title: Clam farming generates CO2: A study case in the Marinetta lagoon (Italy).
abstract: Respiration and calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) production by the farmed short-neck clam Ruditapes philippinarum were calculated to assess their importance as carbon dioxide (CO(2)) sink/source in a lagoon of the Po Delta River (Italy). Biomass and calcimass were established by monthly harvests during a 1-year period (2009). The ratio of CO(2) released to CaCO(3) precipitated was calculated as a function of the near-bottom temperature. From our estimates, R. philippinarum sequestered  [Formula: see text]  for shell formation, but the CO(2) fluxes due to respiration and calcification resulted 22.7 and 5.56  [Formula: see text] , respectively. Clam farming seems therefore to be a significant additional source of CO(2) to seawater.
authors: Department of Biology and Evolution, University of Ferrara, Via L. Borsari 46, 44121 Ferrara, Italy. msm@unife.it
authors: Michele
authors: M
authors: Mistri
authors: Cristina
authors: C
authors: Munari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000502:physiology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007558:Italy; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002245:Carbon Dioxide