Ocean acidification

Date/time: Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at 1pm PT (4pm EST)

Presented by Dr. Evan Durland, Tjärnö – Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and hosted by Teri King, Washington Sea Grant.

Description: The Pacific oyster is the most widely farmed shellfish species worldwide and represents the backbone of a $250M/year shellfish industry in the Pacific Northwest United States (PNW). Oysters are highly fecund, capable of producing tens of millions of offspring per spawning event but larvae routinely suffer low rates of survival to juvenile stage. Over the past decade in the PNW, ocean acidification (OA) has additionally reduced survival of larval oysters, both for those spawned in commercial hatcheries for aquaculture operations and, likely, in naturalized oyster populations in this region. A considerable amount of research has focused on the physiological impacts of low pH/high pCO2 seawater on shell formation and the early development of oyster larvae but relatively little, by contrast, is known about the chronic effects of acidified seawater on larval development and survival through to settled juvenile ‘spat’. Furthermore, the effect that larval development and survival in acidified seawater has on the genetic composition of oyster larvae largely unknown.

This webinar will focus on recent work investigating the genetic components of larval oyster survival, both in ‘normal’ and OA seawater conditions. This work combines broad, stock-based, comparisons of larval fitness through settlement stage from domesticated and ‘wild’ stocks of oysters in the PNW along with highly resolved temporal patterns of genetic change during larval development. By integrating the results from several scopes of investigation, we can begin to gain a more comprehensive view of the prominent role that genetics plays in determining not only the overall survival rates of oyster larvae but how complex mechanisms of genetic selection also may accommodate an increased adaptive potential for this species to persist in challenging aquatic environments.

Continue reading ‘C-CAN webinar: genetics of larval fitness in the Pacific oyster: responses to acidified seawater and temporally dynamic selection processes’

The AGU Fall Meeting will be held on 9-13 December 2019 in San Francisco, CA. The meeting will include a session on ocean acidification titled “Marine-based management of atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean acidification”.

Session description: Ocean biology, chemistry and physics play a central role in naturally controlling oceanic/atmospheric CO2 levels. To avoid major global climate impacts and ocean acidification, reducing CO2 emissions is no longer sufficient; CO2 removal from the ocean/atmosphere system is now also required. This session will explore ways of restoring, enhancing, and augmenting naturally-occurring marine processes for regulating oceanic and atmospheric CO2 and ocean acidity levels. Specific examples include, but are not limited to: Blue Carbon, macrophyte introduction, aquaculture, permaculture, nutrient enrichment, marine BECCS, enhanced weathering, alkalinity addition, enhanced upwelling/downwelling, and chemical or physical seawater CO2 stripping, conducted at local to global scales. In addition to technical aspects, presentations on the economic, regulatory, policy, geopolitical, governance, legal and ethical implications of the preceding are also invited.

Continue reading ‘AGU session on ocean acidification: Marine-based management of atmospheric carbon dioxide and ocean acidification’

The 11th WIOMSA Symposium will be held on 1-6 July 2019 in Mauritius, and will include a special session on 5 July focused on ocean acidification efforts in East Africa.

Description of the session:
The 1-day OA session will offer an opportunity for East African relevant stakeholders attending the 11th WIOMSA symposium at the University of Mauritius on 5 July to understand OA challenges while maintaining ecosystem health as well as livelihoods for local communities.

OA research and monitoring priorities for the conservation and management of the ocean and its resources will be highlighted as below:
1. To motivate government, stakeholders and civil society to change their attitudes toward CO2 emissions and the Ocean through a better understanding of the relationship between actions (or lack of), CO2 emissions, OA and
consequences for the ocean and human health.

2. To promote research, innovation and development to minimize and anticipate impacts of OA.

3. To present the OA White Paper for East Africa to a wide audience and include new concepts and ideas.

Continue reading ‘Special session on ocean acidification at WIOMSA Symposium’