This dataset contains the results of a laboratory experiment study to understand the effect of ocean acidification on eggs and larvae of northern rock sole, Lepidopsetta polyxystra. The Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska support a number of commercially important flatfish fisheries. These high latitude ecosystems are predicted to be most immediately impacted by ongoing ocean acidification but the range of responses by commercial fishery species has yet to be fully explored. In this study we examined the growth responses of northern rock sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra) eggs and larvae across a range of CO2 levels (ambient to 1500 uatm) to evaluate the potential sensitivity to ocean acidification. Laboratory-spawned eggs and larvae were reared at 8 degrees Celsius in a flow-through culture system in which CO2 levels were maintained via computer-controlled injection of CO2 into a seawater conditioning tank. Overall, we observed only minor effects of elevated CO2 level on sizes of northern rock sole larvae. Size at hatch differed among offspring from four different females, but there was no significant effect of CO2 level on egg survival or size at hatch. In three separate larval growth trials, there was little effect of CO2 level on growth rates through the first 28 days post-hatch (DPH). However, in the one trial extended to 60 DPH, fish reared at the highest CO2 level had lower condition factors after 28 DPH suggesting that larvae undergoing metamorphosis may be more sensitive to environmental hypercapnia than earlier pre-flexion stages. These results suggest that while early life stages of northern rock sole are less sensitive to ocean acidification than previously examined flatfishes, they may be more sensitive to elevated CO2 levels than a previously studied gadid with a similar geographic range.

This dataset contains data from manipulated experimental seawater chemistry conditions and Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) embryos and larvae growth and development impacts. The experiment took place from April 6-June 2, 2022 in the Alaska Fisheries Science Center laboratory research facilities at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. Embryos and larvae were reared in the laboratory, and were the offspring of strip spawned adults freshly caught near Kodiak Island, Alaska. Experiments occurred for up to 9 weeks at one of six combinations of three temperatures (3, 6, 10 °C) and two CO2 levels (ambient: ~360 µatm; high: ~1560 µatm) in a factorial design. This effort was conducted in support of the research objectives of the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP).

This dataset contains the biological response for Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) exposed to three different levels of carbon dioxide enrichment (low, medium, high). The experiment took place from October 23, 2019 to December 19, 2019 (8 weeks). Salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, chlorophyll-a, and seston counts are reported for the seawater during the 8 week exposure. Physiological measurements (feeding, respiration, and excretion rates) were taken 4 times during the experiment at the following temperatures (13.1C, 9.4C, 7.4C, and 6.1C). For feeding rates, the clearance rate, organic ingestion rate, assimilation rate, and assimilation efficiency are reported. From the respiration rate and excretion rate the atomic oxygen to nitrogen ratio is also reported. Scope for growth (the amount of energy available to grow) is calculated from the assimilated energy minus the energy for catabolic processes. Growth parameters were also taken during the 8 week experiment every 2 weeks. For growth parameters, dry tissue weight, dry shell weight, length, width, and thickness are reported.

Impacts of elevated carbon dioxide on marine ecosystems depend on physiological responses to consequential decreased pH and increased temperature. Responses to these environmental factors vary among species and life stages, and interactive effects can be significant. To study effects of decreased pH and increased temperature on juvenile red king crab (RKC, Paralithodes camtschaticus) we exposed individuals to three levels of temperature: 11 degrees Celsius (ambient), 13 degrees Celsius, and 14 degrees Celsius, crossed with three levels of pH: 8.0, 7.8 and 7.5, for a total of nine treatments. To better understand the effect of these environmental changes at the level of genome regulation, we analyzed total RNA of whole crabs using Illumina-based RNA-seq whole-transcriptome sequencing. We assembled a RKC transcriptome using Trinity, annotated the transcriptome using Trinotate, and estimated expression levels using bowtie2, samtools and eXpress. Differentially expressed genes were identified using EdgeR. Genes were clustered by expression patterns. Interactive effects were determined by comparing sets of differentially expressed genes using three statistical models to examine the effect of temperature, the effect of pH, and the interaction between temperature and pH in EdgeR. The largest set of differentially expressed genes encoded proteins involved in regulation of extracellular and cuticular structures, including chitin-binding and calcification related proteins.

This dataset contains laboratory experiment data that were collected to examine the effects of elevated levels of CO2 on the growth, survival, otolith (ear bone) condition and the skeleton of juvenile scup, Stenotomus chrysops, a species that supports both commercial and recreational fisheries. Increasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide from human industrial activities are causing changes in global ocean carbon chemistry resulting in a reduction in pH, a process termed ocean acidification. Studies have demonstrated adverse effects on calcifying organisms, particularly some invertebrates, corals, sea urchins, pteropods, and coccolithophores. It is important to determine which species are sensitive to elevated levels of CO2 because of the potential impacts to ecosystems, marine resources, biodiversity, food webs, populations and effects on human communities and economies. There have been few studies examining the effects of ocean acidification on marine fish, particularly the juvenile stages of species that support important fisheries. These data demonstrated that elevated levels of pCO2 (>1300 micro-atm) had no statistically significant effect on growth, survival, or otolith condition after 8 weeks of rearing. There was a trend towards a greater gain in weight and length in scup exposed to the mid-level (1726 micro-atm) and the high level (2614 micro-atm) treatments of pCO2 when compared to the fish in the control (1205 micro-atm) treatments, but these differences were not statistically significant. X-ray analysis of the fish revealed a slightly higher incidence of hyper-ossification in the vertebrae of a few scup from the highest treatments compared to fish from the control treatments. The study's results show that juvenile scup are tolerant to increases in levels of environmental pCO2, possibly due to conditions this species encounters in their naturally variable environment.

This dataset contains laboratory experiment results of the effect of ocean acidification (OA) and prey availability on the growth of larval northern rock sole. Multiple aspects of climate change are expected to co-occur such that ocean acidification will take place in conjunction with warming and a range of trophic changes. Previous studies have demonstrated that nutritional condition plays a significant role in the responses of invertebrates to ocean acidification, but similar studies have yet to be conducted with marine fishes. In this study, we examined the potential interactive effects of elevated CO2 levels and nutritional stress on the growth and development of northern rock sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra). Separate experiments examined the effects of these two environmental stressors during the pre-flexion (3-31 days) and post-flexion (31-87 days) larval stages. In both stages, larval feeding regime has a much larger impact on growth rates than did CO2 level, and there was no observed interaction between stressors. By 31 days post-hatch, larvae in the high feeding treatment were 84.2% heavier than the fish in the low feeding treatments, but there was no significant effect of CO2 level on body size or condition. While overall growth rates were faster during the pre-flexion stage, the effects of food limitation were greater for post-flexion larvae undergoing metamorphosis, with high feeding treatment fish being 3.3 times as heavy as fish in the low feeding treatments. These results have important implications for understanding the impacts of the multi-faceted nature of climate change on population productivity of commercial fish species in the North Pacific.

This dataset contains laboratory experiment data that were collected to examine potential effects of warming and ocean acidification in high latitude marine ecosystems. Warming in high latitude marine ecosystems is leading to the borealization of Arctic communities. Species-specific responses to temperature provide insight into potential co-occurrence or competitive advantage between Arctic and boreal species. Ocean acidification may also lead to unique species-specific responses. At the Pacific-Arctic interface, larval distributions of the boreal Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) are increasingly overlapping with those of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida). We assessed larval metabolic capacities by measuring metabolic enzyme activities of citrate synthase (CS; aerobic metabolism), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; anaerobic metabolism), and β-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (HOAD; fatty acid metabolism). Throughout early development, Pacific cod enzyme activities, including glycolytic capacity, were higher, and fatty acid metabolism lower than Arctic cod enzyme activities. These responses may reflect a more active larval lifestyle of Pacific cod. Separately, larvae were reared in multiple temperatures (Pacific cod: 3, 6, 10°C; Arctic cod 1.8, 5, 7.3°C) and pCO2 levels (ambient = ~350 μatm; high = ~1500 μatm). At the cold temperature, Pacific cod enzyme activities were higher than at the control temperature, indicating they were acclimating but less cold adapted than Arctic cod. Arctic cod HOAD activity and LDH:CS ratio were elevated under warmer temperatures suggesting increased energy demand. Elevated pCO2 levels only affected larvae at their control temperature and resulted in decreased Pacific cod HOAD activity and increased Arctic cod CS and HOAD activities. This indicates differing sensitivities to ocean acidification between the species. Overall, Pacific cod may continue to be constrained in their northern habitat by cold temperatures, but under slight warming to optimal growing temperatures, Pacific cod will have competitive advantage over Arctic cod.

The effects of elevated levels of CO2 on black sea bass, especially during the early life stages when fish tend to be more sensitive to OA effects, was investigated. In this study, we exposed fertilized eggs to a range of CO2 levels (182.7 μatm- 2252.6 μatm) and measured % hatch, unhatch, and skeletal abnormalities after 48 hours of exposure. Adult male and female black sea bass were held in flowing seawater at ambient temperatures during the winters of 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015. Once fish came out of torpor, adults were fed squid during conditioning and spawning. Gamete development in fish occurred naturally and spawning took place in holding tanks in late July of all three years. Fertilized eggs were collected in screens placed at the seawater outflow and exposed to different levels of CO2.

This dataset contains laboratory experiment data that were collected to examine the effects of ocean acidification on the Atlantic surfclam, Spisula solidissima, a species worth $31 million in 2009. Ocean acidification has negatively impacted growth and survival of multiple bivalve species, but because each species and developmental stage can show different responses, these studies were designed to determine potential impacts of increased CO2 on the larvae of the commercially important surfclam. Additionally, the role of nutrition (i.e., phytoplankton concentration) was included in a portion of these experiments because food availability may be able to mitigate the stress of ocean acidification and because ocean acidification has the potential to impact marine phytoplankton communities. During the summer of 2011, three different experiments were conducted at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution examining the effects of three different pCO2 concentrations on larval surf clams. Two short term experiments (~70h) examined the effect of food availability on early shell development (fed vs unfed). One long term experiment (~21d) was conducted to examine the effects of pCO2 on shell development and metamorphic success (all animals well fed). Carbonate data is reported from these preliminary short-term experiments, and survival and shell length data is reported, in addition to carbonate data, from the long-term experiment. During 2012, one 6 day experiment was conducted examining the role and potential interactive effects of high and low food availability (400 and 40,000 cells ml-1 Tiso) and differential CO2 concentrations (ambient, ~1200 ppm and ~2200ppm). From these experiments, carbonate data, shell length, mass and biochemical compositions are reported. In 2013, two additional experiments were conducted to confirm results obtained in 2012. Unfortunately we observed stunted larval growth, no feeding effect on growth, high mortalities and a general failure to thrive. Given this, we infer poor gamete quality may have been the cause, and have chosen not to interpret these data as results are suspect. Therefore, 2013 data are therefore not included in this data submission.

This dataset contains a laboratory experiment study with the goal of understanding the effects of ocean acidification on the embryos and larvae of red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus. The effects of the decline in ocean pH, known as ocean acidification, on marine species are not well understood. To test the effects on embryos and larvae of red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, ovigerous crab and their larvae were held in CO2-acidified (pH 7.7) and control (ambient; pH 8.0) seawater during development. Morphometrics, hatch duration, fecundity, survival, mineral content, and condition were measured. Acidified embryos had 4% larger eyes and 5% smaller yolks, while mean hatch duration was 33% longer and female fecundity was unaffected. Acidified embryos also resulted in 4% longer larvae while acidified larvae had lower survival. Calcium content of both larvae and female carapaces after molting increased by 5% and 19%, respectively. Although ocean acidification may increase larval size and calcium content, the implications of this are unclear and decreased survival is likely to harm red king crab populations.