The potential of ocean acidification on suppressing larval development in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas and blood cockle Area inflata Reeve

We evaluated the effect of pH on larval development in larval Pacific oyster(Crassostrea gigas) and blood cockle(Arca inflata Reeve).The larvae were reared at pH 8.2(control),7.9,7.6,or 7.3beginning 30 min or 24 h post fertilization.Exposure to lower pH during early embryonic development inhibited larval shell formation in both species.Compared with the control,larvae took longer to reach the D-veliger stage when reared under pH 7.6 and 7.3.Exposure to lower pH immediately after fertilization resulted in significantly delayed shell formation in the Pacific oyster larvae at pH 7.3 and blood cockle larvae at pH 7.6 and 7.3.However,when exposure was delayed until 24 h post fertilization,shell formation was only inhibited in blood cockle larvae reared at pH 7.3.Thus,the early embryonic stages were more sensitive to acidified conditions.Our results suggest that ocean acidification will have an adverse effect on embryonic development in bivalves.Although the effects appear subtle,they may accumulate and lead to subsequent issues during later larval development.

The phosphorus cycle in the Sanggou Bay

The phosphorus cycle is studied during 2013–2014 in the Sanggou Bay（SGB）, which is a typical aquaculture area in northern China. The forms of measured phosphorus include dissolved inorganic phosphorus（DIP）, dissolved organic phosphorus（DOP）, particulate inorganic phosphorus（PIP）, and particulate organic phosphorus（POP）.DIP and PIP are the major forms of total dissolved phosphorus（TDP） and total particulate phosphorus（TPP）,representing 51%–75% and 53%–80%, respectively. The concentrations and distributions of phosphorus forms vary among seasons relative to aquaculture cycles, fluvial input, and hydrodynamic conditions. In autumn the concentration of DIP is significantly higher than in other seasons（P〈0.01）, and higher concentrations are found in the west of the bay. In winter and spring the phosphorus concentrations are higher in the east of the bay than in the west. In summer, the distributions of phosphorus forms are uniform. A preliminary phosphorus budget is developed, and shows that SGB is a net sink of phosphorus. A total of 1.80×10^7 mol/a phosphorus is transported into the bay. The Yellow Sea is the major source of net input of phosphorus（61%）, followed by submarine groundwater discharge（SGD）（27%）, river input（11%）, and atmospheric deposition（1%）. The main phosphorus sink is the harvest of seaweeds（Saccharina japonica and Gracilaria lemaneiformis）, bivalves（Chlamys farreri）,and oysters（Crassostrea gigas）, accounting for a total of 1.12×10^7 mol/a. Burial of phosphorus in sediment is another important sink, accounting for 7.00×10^6 mol/a. Biodeposition by bivalves is the major source of phosphorus in sediment, accounting for 54% of the total.