Does sex really matter? Explaining intraspecies variation in ocean acidification responses.
Ocean acidification (OA) poses a major threat to marine ecosystems globally, having significant ecological and economic importance. The number and complexity of experiments examining the effects of OA has substantially increased over the past decade, in an attempt to address multi-stressor interactions and long-term responses in an increasing range of aquatic organisms. However, differences in the response of males and females to elevated pCO2have been investigated in fewer than 4% of studies to date, often being precluded by the difficulty of determining sex non-destructively, particularly in early life stages. Here we highlight that sex can significantly impact organism responses to OA, differentially affecting physiology, reproduction, biochemistry and ultimately survival. What is more, these impacts do not always conform to ecological theory based on differential resource allocation towards reproduction, which would predict females to be more sensitive to OA owing to the higher production cost of eggs compared with sperm. Therefore, non-sex-specific studies may overlook subtle but ecologically significant differences in the responses of males and females to OA, with consequences for forecasting the fate of natural populations in a near-future ocean.
College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK r.p.ellis@exeter.ac.uk.
Robert P
0000-0002-3117-0075
RP
Ellis
College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
William
W
Davison
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK.
Ana M
0000-0002-7067-3177
AM
Queirós
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Kristy J
0000-0002-5766-1999
KJ
Kroeker
Département de Biologie, Chimie et Géographie, Universitè du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Quebec, Canada.
Piero
P
Calosi
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden.
Sam
0000-0003-2567-8742
S
Dupont
Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
John I
JI
Spicer
College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Rod W
0000-0001-8832-0065
RW
Wilson
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK.
Steve
0000-0002-0598-0234
S
Widdicombe
Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
Mauricio A
0000-0001-8040-6147
MA
Urbina
D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000502:physiology*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000502:physiology* / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013045:Species Specificity
D002245:Carbon Dioxide
carbon dioxide; climate change; gender; hermaphroditism; individual variation; systematic map