2017/05/01 by Christopher Spalding, Seth Finnegan, Woodward W. Fischer · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Physiological and biochemical adaptations
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/2016gb005597
openalex publication_date 2017/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Anthropogenic ocean acidification threatens to negatively impact marine organisms that precipitate calcium carbonate skeletons. Past geological events, such as the Permian‐Triassic Mass Extinction, together with modern experiments generally support these concerns. However, the physiological costs of producing a calcium carbonate skeleton under different acidification scenarios remain poorly understood. Here we present an idealized mathematical model to quantify whole‐skeleton costs, concluding that they rise only modestly (up to ∼10%) under acidification expected for 2100. The modest magnitude of this effect reflects in part the low energetic cost of inorganic, calcium carbonate relative to the proteinaceous organic matrix component of skeletons. Our analysis does, however, point to an important kinetic constraint that depends on seawater carbonate chemistry, and we hypothesize that the impact of acidification is more likely to cause extinctions within groups where the timescale of larval development is tightly constrained. The cheapness of carbonate skeletons compared to organic materials also helps explain the widespread evolutionary convergence upon calcification within the metazoa.