Description of an experimental set up for the culture of benthic foraminifera in controlled pH conditions

• Autores: Paula Diz Ferreiro, Anxo Mena Rodríguez, Miguel Angel Nombela Castaño, Mónica Castaño Carrera, Antón Velo, Natalia Ordóñez, Antonio Fuentes Lema, Guillermo Francés Pedraz, Fiz Fernández Pérez, Aida Fernández Ríos, Gabriel Rosón Porto
• Localización: Thalassas: An international journal of marine sciences, ISSN 0212-5919, Vol. 31, Nº. 1, 2015, págs. 23-32
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Acidification of the oceans is one of the consequences of ongoing increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The effects on organisms that build their shells of calcium carbonate are not sufficiently studied and might be detrimental. Simulating ocean acidification scenarios in the laboratory is a reasonable way to study their response to decreased pH and carbonate ion concentrations. In this study we describe in detail an experimental system to carry out ocean acidification experiments with non-symbiotic benthic foraminifera. We test the performance of the designed experimental set up by running a long-term experiment (90 days) using a potentially suitable benthic foraminiferal species for culturing (Miliolinella spp.). Although foraminifera did not survive the experimental period likely due to ciliates infestation, seawater pH measurement results indicate that the design is suitable for carrying out ocean acidification experiments.