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Skeletal alterations and polymorphism in a Mediterranean bryozoan at natural CO2 vents

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Abstract

Colonies of the cheilostome bryozoan Schizoporella errata were grown at a site near Ischia Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) where volcanogenic CO2 emissions lower seawater pH to 7.76, simulating levels of ocean acidification predicted for the end of the present century. Compared with colonies from a control site (mean pH = 8.09), putative defensive polymorphs (avicularia) were significantly fewer, and retarded growth of zooidal basal and lateral walls was evident at the low pH site. The lower proportion of avicularia suggests a switch in resource allocation away from defence to favouring rapid growth. In addition, corrosion of the skeleton was observed in both new and old zooids at the low pH site, and feeding zooids were slightly smaller but had larger orifices for the protrusion of feeding lophophores. These findings corroborate previous studies demonstrating potential dissolution of carbonate skeletons in low pH seawater, while providing new insight into the possible ability of colonial species to respond to ocean acidification by adjusting resource allocation between zooids of different types.

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Acknowledgments

M. C. Buia and the staff of the benthic ecology group of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn provided field and laboratory support and facilities. L. Howard (EMMA Unit, NHM, London) gave assistance and advice in SEM analyses. We are grateful to B. Pernet, S. Hageman, T. Bartolomaeus and three anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments. This project was partially financed by the VECTOR project. C. L. was funded by the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lombardia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ENEA Marine Environment Research Center, 19100, La Spezia, Italy

    Chiara Lombardi & Silvia Cocito

  2. Laboratory of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80077, Naples, Italy

    Maria Cristina Gambi & Claudio Vasapollo

  3. CNR—National Research Council of Italy, ISMAR—Marine Sciences Institute, 60125, Ancona, Italy

    Claudio Vasapollo

  4. Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Paul Taylor

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  1. Chiara Lombardi
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  2. Maria Cristina Gambi
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  5. Silvia Cocito
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Correspondence to Chiara Lombardi.

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Communicated by T. Bartolomaeus.

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Lombardi, C., Gambi, M.C., Vasapollo, C. et al. Skeletal alterations and polymorphism in a Mediterranean bryozoan at natural CO2 vents. Zoomorphology 130, 135–145 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-011-0127-y

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