title: Energy metabolism and regeneration are impaired by seawater acidification in the infaunal brittlestar Amphiura filiformis.
abstract: Seawater acidification due to anthropogenic release of CO2 as well as the potential leakage of pure CO2 from sub-seabed carbon capture storage (CCS) sites may impose a serious threat to marine organisms. Although infaunal organisms can be expected to be particularly impacted by decreases in seawater pH, as a result of naturally acidified conditions in benthic habitats, information regarding physiological and behavioral responses is still scarce. Determination of PO2 and P(CO2) gradients within burrows of the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis during environmental hypercapnia demonstrated that besides hypoxic conditions, increases of environmental P(CO2) are additive to the already high P(CO2) (up to 0.08 kPa) within the burrows. In response to up to 4 weeks exposure to pH 7.3 (0.3 kPa P(CO2)) and pH 7.0 (0.6 kPa P(CO2)), metabolic rates of A. filiformis were significantly reduced in pH 7.0 treatments, accompanied by increased ammonium excretion rates. Gene expression analyses demonstrated significant reductions of acid-base (NBCe and AQP9) and metabolic (G6PDH, LDH) genes. Determination of extracellular acid-base status indicated an uncompensated acidosis in CO2-treated animals, which could explain the depressed metabolic rates. Metabolic depression is associated with a retraction of filter feeding arms into sediment burrows. Regeneration of lost arm tissues following traumatic amputation is associated with significant increases in metabolic rate, and hypercapnic conditions (pH 7.0, 0.6 kPa) dramatically reduce the metabolic scope for regeneration, reflected in an 80% reduction in regeneration rate. Thus, the present work demonstrates that elevated seawater P(CO2) significantly affects the environment and the physiology of infaunal organisms like A. filiformis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45178 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan marian.yongan.hu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marian Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45178 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Casties
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45178 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stumpp
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45178 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ortega-Martinez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, The Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45178 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dupont
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D057231:Climate Change; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012038:Regeneration; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Acid–base regulation; Behavior; Carbon capture storage; Hypercapnia; Invertebrates; Ocean acidification