Juvenile Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, energetic response to increased carbon dioxide and temperature changes

Abstract

This study assessed the energy budget for juvenile Atlantic Sea Scallop, Placopecten magellanicus , during a natural drop in temperature (15.6°C to 5.8°C) over an 8-week time period during the fall at three different enrichment levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Every 2 weeks, individuals were sampled for ecophysiological measurements of feeding activity, respiration rate (RR) and excretion rate (ER) to enable the calculation of scope for growth (SFG) and atomic oxygen:nitrogen ratios (O:N). In addition, 36 individuals per treatment were removed for shell height, dry tissue weight (DTW) and dry shell weight (DSW). We found a significant decrease in feeding rates as CO 2 increased. Those rates also were significantly affected by temperature, with highest feeding at 9.4°C. No significant CO 2 effect was observed for catabolic energy processes (RR and ER); however, these rates did increase significantly with temperature. The O:N ratio was not significantly affected by CO 2 , but was significantly affected by temperature. There was a significant interaction between CO 2 and temperature for ER and the O:N ratio, with low CO 2 levels resulting in a U-shaped response that was not sustained as CO 2 levels increased. This suggests that the independent effects of CO 2 and temperature observed at low levels are different once a CO 2 threshold is reached. Additionally, there were significant differences in growth estimators (shell height and DSW), with the best growth occurring at the lowest CO 2 level. In contrast to temperature variations that induced a trade-off response in energy acquisition and expenditure, results from this research support the hypothesis that sea scallops have a limited ability to alter physiological processes to compensate for increasing CO 2 .