ACIDVEG – Effects of ocean acidification on marine vegetation using Baja California upwelling as natural laboratories

A novel approach to study the effects of ocean acidification on marine vegetation (seagrass and seaweeds): Using upwelling-exposed coastal lagoons in Baja California as natural laboratories

IRENE OLIVÉ SAMARRA, Jose M. Sandoval-Gil, José Martín Hernández-Ayón, Adán Mejía Trejo, Víctor F. Camacho-Ibar, Jose Antonio Zertuche González

Disciplines: Natural Resource Management, Plant Ecology

Region: Baja California, NW Baja California

Chapter: Ensenada

Ocean acidification associated to the increase in atmospheric CO₂ is considered a major threat for many marine organisms. However, the input of CO₂ into the ocean may boost the productivity of photosynthetic organisms such as seagrass and seaweed benefiting the functioning of their associated communities.

In San Quintín Bay (Baja California), as in other coastal lagoons along the California Current system, meadows of the seagrass Zostera marina and the seaweed Ulva sp. are regularly exposed to ocean-driven upwelling events, which surface CO₂-enriched deep seawater creating a CO₂ gradient along the bay.

ACIDVEG project (ACID = acidification, VEG = vegetation) aims at studying the effects of ocean acidification on marine vegetation and evaluating the potential of using coastal lagoons influenced by upwelling as natural laboratories for global change research.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from University of Glasgow and University of Baja California will study the metabolic implications of natural exposure to ocean acidification in seagrasses and seaweeds. In situ productivity incubations and physiological analysis of Z. marina and Ulva sp. together with a complete physico-chemical description of the water mass will be performed along San Quintín Bay following the CO₂ gradient associated to the upwelling events.

This project will provide valuable insights on the functioning of Baja California coastal ecosystems and the effects of ocean acidification. The results generated will contribute to improve ecosystem management in San Quintín Bay and define sustainable practices aimed at preserving coastal systems dominated by submerged vegetation, positively rebounding on the economic and social activities on the area, like oyster aquaculture.