title: Species-Specific Responses of Juvenile Rockfish to Elevated pCO2: From Behavior to Genomics.
abstract: In the California Current ecosystem, global climate change is predicted to trigger large-scale changes in ocean chemistry within this century. Ocean acidification-which occurs when increased levels of atmospheric CO2 dissolve into the ocean-is one of the biggest potential threats to marine life. In a coastal upwelling system, we compared the effects of chronic exposure to low pH (elevated pCO2) at four treatment levels (i.e., pCO2 = ambient [500], moderate [750], high [1900], and extreme [2800 μatm]) on behavior, physiology, and patterns of gene expression in white muscle tissue of juvenile rockfish (genus Sebastes), integrating responses from the transcriptome to the whole organism level. Experiments were conducted simultaneously on two closely related species that both inhabit kelp forests, yet differ in early life history traits, to compare high-CO2 tolerance among species. Our findings indicate that these congeners express different sensitivities to elevated CO2 levels. Copper rockfish (S. caurinus) exhibited changes in behavioral lateralization, reduced critical swimming speed, depressed aerobic scope, changes in metabolic enzyme activity, and increases in the expression of transcription factors and regulatory genes at high pCO2 exposure. Blue rockfish (S. mystinus), in contrast, showed no significant changes in behavior, swimming physiology, or aerobic capacity, but did exhibit significant changes in the expression of muscle structural genes as a function of pCO2, indicating acclimatization potential. The capacity of long-lived, late to mature, commercially important fish to acclimatize and adapt to changing ocean chemistry over the next 50-100 years is likely dependent on species-specific physiological tolerances.
authors.affiliation: Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Scott L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Cheryl A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.affiliation: Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Hamilton W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Fennie
authors.affiliation: National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Sogard
authors.affiliation: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: April D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Makukhov
authors.affiliation: California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lauren R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Tobosa
authors.affiliation: California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boyer
authors.affiliation: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christopher F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Lovera
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bernardi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D010473:Perciformes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors; D002245:Carbon Dioxide