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    To brood or not to brood: Are marine invertebrates that protect their offspring more resilient to ocean acidification?
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    Abstract:
    Abstract Anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is being absorbed by seawater resulting in increasingly acidic oceans, a process known as ocean acidification (OA). OA is thought to have largely deleterious effects on marine invertebrates, primarily impacting early life stages and consequently, their recruitment and species’ survival. Most research in this field has been limited to short-term, single-species and single-life stage studies, making it difficult to determine which taxa will be evolutionarily successful under OA conditions. We circumvent these limitations by relating the dominance and distribution of the known polychaete worm species living in a naturally acidic seawater vent system to their life history strategies. These data are coupled with breeding experiments, showing all dominant species in this natural system exhibit parental care. Our results provide evidence supporting the idea that long-term survival of marine species in acidic conditions is related to life history strategies where eggs are kept in protected maternal environments (brooders) or where larvae have no free swimming phases (direct developers). Our findings are the first to formally validate the hypothesis that species with life history strategies linked to parental care are more protected in an acidifying ocean compared to their relatives employing broadcast spawning and pelagic larval development.
    Keywords:
    Ocean Acidification
    Marine invertebrates
    Marine life
    Life History Theory
    Dominance (genetics)
    Abstract Anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is being absorbed by seawater resulting in increasingly acidic oceans, a process known as ocean acidification (OA). OA is thought to have largely deleterious effects on marine invertebrates, primarily impacting early life stages and consequently, their recruitment and species’ survival. Most research in this field has been limited to short-term, single-species and single-life stage studies, making it difficult to determine which taxa will be evolutionarily successful under OA conditions. We circumvent these limitations by relating the dominance and distribution of the known polychaete worm species living in a naturally acidic seawater vent system to their life history strategies. These data are coupled with breeding experiments, showing all dominant species in this natural system exhibit parental care. Our results provide evidence supporting the idea that long-term survival of marine species in acidic conditions is related to life history strategies where eggs are kept in protected maternal environments (brooders) or where larvae have no free swimming phases (direct developers). Our findings are the first to formally validate the hypothesis that species with life history strategies linked to parental care are more protected in an acidifying ocean compared to their relatives employing broadcast spawning and pelagic larval development.
    Ocean Acidification
    Marine invertebrates
    Marine life
    Life History Theory
    Dominance (genetics)
    Citations (81)
    All physicians must be educated in treating injuries incurred when a diver comes into contact with any dangerous marine life. Stinging invertebrates are the most commonly encountered dangerous marine animals. Venomous vertebrate marine animals are less common than stinging invertebrates and easier to recognize. However, they may be much more deadly. Sharks pose the greatest danger to divers. However, bites from other marine animals can be painful, become infected and require extensive medical treatment.
    Marine invertebrates
    Marine life
    Citations (6)