Comparison of Mediterranean Pteropod Shell Biometrics and Ultrastructure from Historical (1910 and 1921) and Present Day (2012) Samples Provides Baseline for Monitoring Effects of Global Change

Type Article
Date 2017-01
Language English
Author(s) Howes Ella L.1, 2, Eagle Robert A.3, 4, Gattuso Jean-Pierre1, 5, Bijma Jelle2
Affiliation(s) 1 : UPMC Univ Paris 06, Sorbonne Univ, CNRS INSU, Lab Oceanog Villefranche, 181 Chemin Lazaret, Villefranche Sur Mer, France.
2 : Alfred Wegener Inst, Helmholtz Zentrum Polar & Meeresforsch, Bremerhaven, Germany.
3 : Univ Brest, UMR CNRS UBO IRD Ifremer 6539, Lab Sci Environm Marin, IUEM, Rue Dumont DUrville Plouzane, Brest, France.
4 : Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Atmospher & Ocean Sci, Inst Environm & Sustainabil, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA.
5 : Sci Po, Inst Sustainable Dev & Int Relat, 27 Rue St Guillaume, Paris, France.
Source Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2017-01 , Vol. 12 , N. 1 , P. e0167891 (23p.)
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0167891
WOS© Times Cited 20
Abstract

Anthropogenic carbon perturbation has caused decreases in seawater pH and increases in global temperatures since the start of the 20th century. The subsequent lowering of the saturation state of CaCO3 may make the secretion of skeletons more problematic for marine calcifiers. As organisms that precipitate thin aragonite shells, thecosome pteropods have been identified as being particularly vulnerable to climate change effects. Coupled with their global distribution, this makes them ideal for use as sentinel organisms. Recent studies have highlighted shell dissolution as a potential indicator of ocean acidification; however, this metric is not applicable for monitoring pH changes in supersaturated basins. In this study, the novel approach of high resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning was used to produce quantitative 3-dimensional renderings pteropod shells to assess the potential of using this method to monitor small changes in shell biometrics that may be driven by climate change drivers. An ontogenetic analysis of the shells of Cavolinia inflexa and Styliola subula collected from the Mediterranean was used to identify suitable monitoring metrics. Modern samples were then compared to historical samples of the same species, collected during the Mediterranean leg of the Thor (1910) and Dana (1921) cruises to assess whether any empirical differences could be detected. Shell densities were calculated and scanning electron microscopy was used to compare the aragonite crystal morphology. pH for the collection years was hind-cast using temperature and salinity time series with atmospheric CO2 concentrations from ice core data. Historical samples of S. subula were thicker than S. subula shells of the same size from 2012 and C. inflexa shells collected in 1910 were significantly denser than those from 2012. These results provide a baseline for future work to develop monitoring techniques for climate change in the oceans using the novel approach of high-resolution CT scanning.

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Publisher's official version 23 3 MB Open access
S1 Fig. Screenshot of initial 3D reconstruction of a typical CT scan in VG StudioMax software. 1 180 KB Open access
S2 Fig. Objects in the initial reconstruction are separated into three distinct files using a process called 3-2-1 registration. 1 314 KB Open access
S3 Fig. Individual objects are now ready for dimension, thickness, and volume analyses. 1 342 KB Open access
S4 Fig. In some cases extraneous objects in the mount were not removable based on greyscale intensity differences, for example see the “floating material above and below the shell in the top panel. 2 516 KB Open access
S5 Fig. 2 451 KB Open access
S1 Table. Time series of measured water temperature, salinity and corbonate chemistry parameters taken from Point B from 2007–2012, used to validate hindcast modeling of pH. 11 484 KB Open access
S2 Table. Modern specimens used in analysis of shell morphometrics based on ontogenetic stage. 3 208 KB Open access
S3 Table. The modern and museum specimens used for comparison. 3 304 KB Open access
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How to cite 

Howes Ella L., Eagle Robert A., Gattuso Jean-Pierre, Bijma Jelle (2017). Comparison of Mediterranean Pteropod Shell Biometrics and Ultrastructure from Historical (1910 and 1921) and Present Day (2012) Samples Provides Baseline for Monitoring Effects of Global Change. Plos One, 12(1), e0167891 (23p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167891 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00377/48792/