Award: OCE-1220363

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE I. Results of Prior NSF Support. NSF grants – 1041240 ($1,991,579) & 1220338 ($1,086,476). 36 & 12 months, 9/1/2010 to 8/31/2013 & 10/1/2012 to 9/30/2013. COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Acclimation and adaptation to ocean acidification of key ecosystem components in the California Current System & COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: OMEGAS II - Linking ecological and organismal responses to the ocean acidification seascape in the California Current System (CCS). Intellectual Merit. A group of 13 PIs created a US west coast consortium to investigate the impact of ocean acidification (OA) on key components (sea urchins, mussels) of the CCS. Goals were to test the genetic and physiological responses of urchins and mussels to temporal and spatial variation in OA across multiple sites located in four regions from Oregon through southern California, and to quantify the coastal OA mosaic using deployments of newly developed pH sensors. Growth of sea urchin larvae in laboratory cultures was negatively affected by OA, but effects were small; the larvae were relatively smaller, a change that was associated with shifts in allele frequencies of 1,000s of genes, suggesting a strong adaptive capacity. In contrast, mussel larvae cultured at 2100 pCO2 levels grew weaker, thinner, and smaller shells and less tissue than control individuals. A multi-site pH and pCO2 sensor network across 1200+ km of the CCS in the intertidal and adjacent inner shelf revealed that (a) pH and carbonate saturation state vary regionally and latitudinally, (b) upwelling reliably generates low pH/high pCO2 water in some areas but not others, and (c) pH variation is likely a product of both physical and biological processes with diel variation ranging between ~8.1 to ~7.6. Broader Impacts. The grant has provided total or partial support for 8 research assistants, 2 research interns, 3 postdoctoral scholars, 3 staff, and 1 RET teacher. At least 11 graduate student theses are based wholly or in part on the OMEGAS project. OMEGAS PIs (Hofmann, Blanchette, Chan, Hill, Gaylord, Sanford, Menge, Barth) have been involved in international, national, and regional workshops, committees and partnerships focused on OA (e.g., GO-AN, Global Ocean Acidification Network, Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry OA subcommittee, ORAP OA Task Force, C-CAN, Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Banks NMS, NOAA National Climate Assessment). Briefings for local stakeholders, congressional delegations, and governors of states have been presented (Chan, Barth). Invited lectures on OA have been given at "Ocean in a High CO2 World meeting," the Ocean Sciences 2012 meeting, AAAS 2012, National Shellfisheries Association meeting (2012). NSF also invited our participation in their exhibit at the Feb 2012 AAAS meeting. Collaborations for data sharing and sensor deployment exist with the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER, the Channel Islands National Park, the NOAA Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary, and BOEM, and the Ocean Change Center at UCSB (Hofmann, Director) has worked with the State Water Board to extend this collaboration to the state level. Thirty-two talks and posters have been given at scientific meetings, with more scheduled for 2013 and 2014. Publications. The consortium has generated 22 publications and has 6 in preparation. The former include: 2011 - Yu et al. J Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 400:288-295, Hofmann et al. PLoSOne 6:e28983, Howarth et al. Front. in Ecol. and the Env. 9:18-26, Gaylord et al. J Exp. Biol. 214:2586-2594; 2012 – DeWit et al. Molec. Ecol. Resources. 12:1058-1067, DeWit & Palumbi Molec. Ecol. 22:2884-2897, Evans & Hofmann Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B 367:1733-1745, Kelly & Hofmann Funct. Ecol. 27:980-990, Matson et al. Biol. Bull. 223:312-3...