Abstract or Keywords
Anthropogenic inputs, like organic-based runoff, can cause extremes in seawater pH within many coastal habitats. Coastal habitats can also experience diurnal variability in seawater pH due to naturally occurring phenomena such as seasonal changes in precipitation and/or daily respiration and photosynthetic processes. Marine organisms that experience diurnal variability in pH may be better acclimatized to tolerate future extremes in seawater acidification that are forecast for future oceans. The Florida stone crab is a commercially important species in south Florida valued at $25 million (USD) annually. Previous research has shown that stone crab hatching success and larval survival can be reduced by ~30% under end-of-century pH scenarios. Here, we tested if stone crabs from pH variable habitats within Tampa Bay may be better acclimatized to tolerate future extremes in seawater pH. We placed ovigerous stone crabs into either sandy habitats with less variable pH or seagrass habitats with more variable pH to determine if embryo development time and hatching success improved under end-of-century pH scenarios. Ovigerous stone crabs were allowed to undergo embryogenesis in both sandy and seagrass habitats and extrude a new egg mass before being brought back to the Florida Southern College experimental ocean acidification system. Ovigerous crabs were then held in either the control (pH = 8.0) or lower pH (pH = 7.7) treatment for the clrirati on of their embryo development. All stone crabs were then monitored for embryo development time and hatching success. Crabs conditioned in the seagrass site but then placed into the low pH treatment experienced a hatching success of 76%. This was 48% higher than reported in previously published studies suggesting that the diurnal variability experienced in local seagrass habitats may serve as a potential refugia habitat for the stone crab fishery as coastal habitats continue to acidify.