![]() Recent research has demonstrated that the ability of larval fish to detect ecologically important cues is hindered by ocean acidification –. The potential impact of ocean acidification on the growth and survival of marine calcifiers is well established –, however the likely effects of elevated CO 2 and reduced pH on non-calcifying organisms, such as marine fishes, is still poorly understood. ![]() This departure from current-day pH levels would occur at a faster rate than has been seen at any time over the past two million years, potentially limiting the abilities of populations to adapt to such a rapid change –. Corresponding increases in CO 2 dissolved in the ocean may cause a reduction of 0.3–0.4 units in oceanic pH compared to current-day levels –. Based on current emission trajectories, atmospheric CO 2 concentrations are predicted to reach 730–1,020 parts per million (ppm) by the end of the century. Growing evidence suggests that ocean acidification, caused by rapidly increasing anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, will have significant and widespread impacts on marine life –. ![]() The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: This work was financed by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Grant 95917), James Cook University, and PLM was supported by an Australian Research Council Fellowship. Received: FebruAccepted: JPublished: July 28, 2011Ĭopyright: © 2011 Cripps et al. PLoS ONE 6(7):Įditor: Attila Szolnoki, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary Thus, it is unlikely that the altered behaviour of predators is sufficient to fully compensate for the effects of ocean acidification on prey mortality.Ĭitation: Cripps IL, Munday PL, McCormick MI (2011) Ocean Acidification Affects Prey Detection by a Predatory Reef Fish. Although impairment of olfactory-mediated behaviour of predators might reduce the risk of predation for larval fishes, the magnitude of the observed effects of elevated CO 2 acidification appear to be more dramatic for prey compared to predators. Our findings show that, at least for the species tested to date, both parties in the predator-prey relationship may be affected by ocean acidification. Elevated activity levels of predators in the high CO 2 treatment, however, may compensate for reduced olfactory ability, as greater movement facilitated visual detection of food. Furthermore, activity levels of fish was higher in the high CO 2 treatment and feeding activity was lower for fish in the mid CO 2 treatment indicating that future conditions may potentially reduce the ability of the fish to respond rapidly to fluctuations in food availability. Exposure to elevated CO 2 and reduced pH caused a shift from preference to avoidance of the smell of injured prey, with CO 2 treated predators spending approximately 20% less time in a water stream containing prey odour compared with controls. Predators were exposed to either current-day CO 2 levels or one of two elevated CO 2 levels (∼600 µatm or ∼950 µatm) that may occur by 2100 according to climate change predictions. We investigated the effects of elevated CO 2 and reduced pH on olfactory preferences, activity levels and feeding behaviour of a common coral reef meso-predator, the brown dottyback ( Pseudochromis fuscus). However, it is currently unclear how elevated CO 2 will impact the other key part of the predator-prey interaction – the predators. Changes in olfactory-mediated behaviour caused by elevated CO 2 levels in the ocean could affect recruitment to reef fish populations because larval fish become more vulnerable to predation.
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