Oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide results in a decrease in seawater pH, a process known as "ocean acidification". The pearl oyster Pinctada fucata, the noble scallop Chlamys nobilis, and the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis are species of economic and ecological importance along the southern coast of China. We evaluated the effects of seawater acidification on clearance, respiration, and excretion rates in these three species. The animals were reared in seawater at pH 8.1 (control), 7.7, or 7.4. The clearance rate was highest at pH 7.7 for P. fucata and at pH 8.1 for C. nobilis and P. viridis. The pH had little effecton the respiration rate of P. fucata and P. viridis. In contrast, the respiration rate was significantly lower atpH 7.4 in C. nobilis. The excretion rate was significantly lower at pH 7.4 than pH 8.1 for all species. Theresults indicate that the reduction in seawater pH likely affected the metabolic process (food intake, oxygenconsumption, and ammonia excretion) of these bivalves. Different species respond differently to seawateracidification. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the exact mechanisms for this effect and evaluateadaptability of these bivalves to future acidified oceans.
In this study, we examined the effect of elevated temperature on the expression patterns of genes, i.e., nacrein, irr, n16, n19, and hsp70 in the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata. The experiment was carried out at 4 temperatures, i.e., 20℃(ambient, control), 24, 28℃, and 32℃. The expression levels of target genes in P. fucata were assayed at 0, 6, 24, 48, and 96 h via real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results showed that the expression levels of nacrein and irr had no significant variations among different time points below 28℃, but significantly increased over time at 32℃. The expression levels of n16 and n19 did not change markedly at 20℃. The former increased significantly at 6 h and 24 h while the latter substantially decreased during 6–96 h at 24, 28 and 32℃. Among different temperatures, the level of n16 was significantly lower at 20℃ than at other temperatures during 6–96 h, and the level of n19 significantly varied among different temperatures at 48 h and 96 h. The expression level of hsp70 was significantly higher at 32℃ than at 20, 24 and 28℃ at 24 h. These results demonstrated that elevated temperature impacted the physiological processes of P. fucata and potentially influenced its adaptability to thermal stress.
