Ocean warming and acidification alter larval development and swimming behavior in the Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus
Abstract
Ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA) are expected to have wide-ranging consequences for populations in marine systems caused by organism-level responses at a range of life history stages, including early larval stages. The Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, is an economically important bivalve species that may be vulnerable to ocean change, but larval responses remain unclear. While the effects of OW and OA are known to impact adult sea scallops, little is known about the interactive effects of these two factors on early life stages. Larval dispersal is key to population-level patterns (e.g. abundance and distribution), but is contingent on growth rates and vertical swimming behaviors, which are both influenced by environmental conditions. Here, we evaluate the combined effects of OW and OA on larval development and behavior in a factorial lab experiment. We maintained larval sea scallop cultures up to metamorphosis under a range of physico-chemical conditions (17℃ and 14℃, and pH 7.3, 7.6, 7.9). Sea scallop larval development time was temperature dependent (1 vs. 1.5 months). There was an interactive effect of OW and OA on growth, where OA limited gains in growth experienced in warmer conditions. OA limited a decline in distribution late in development, while OW dominated individual vertical swimming behavior in intermediate development. Finally, ΩAr growth sensitivity was intermediate compared to that of other bivalve taxa. These results contribute to an improved understanding of developmental and behavioral responses to OW and OA, and provide information necessary for improved larval dispersal models under ocean change.
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BibTeX
@misc{roberts2026ocean,
title = {{Ocean warming and acidification alter larval development and swimming behavior in the Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus}},
author = {Emily A. Roberts and Jaquan High and Benjamin Capuano and Raymond Czaja and Madeline Wren and Tessa Houston and Brea Salter and Brian Beal and Daphne Munroe and Tyler Menz and Robert M Cerrato and Kyle Pepperman and Emmanuelle Pales Espinosa and Bassem Allam},
howpublished = {EarthArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31223/x5bf81},
url = {https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/11134/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Ocean warming and acidification alter larval development and swimming behavior in the Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus
AU - Emily A. Roberts
AU - Jaquan High
AU - Benjamin Capuano
AU - Raymond Czaja
AU - Madeline Wren
AU - Tessa Houston
AU - Brea Salter
AU - Brian Beal
AU - Daphne Munroe
AU - Tyler Menz
AU - Robert M Cerrato
AU - Kyle Pepperman
AU - Emmanuelle Pales Espinosa
AU - Bassem Allam
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - EarthArXiv
DO - 10.31223/x5bf81
UR - https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/11134/
AB - Ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA) are expected to have wide-ranging consequences for populations in marine systems caused by organism-level responses at a range of life history stages, including early larval stages. The Atlantic sea scallop, Placopecten magellanicus, is an economically important bivalve species that may be vulnerable to ocean change, but larval responses remain unclear. While the effects of OW and OA are known to impact adult sea scallops, little is known about the interactive effects of these two factors on early life stages. Larval dispersal is key to population-level patterns (e.g. abundance and distribution), but is contingent on growth rates and vertical swimming behaviors, which are both influenced by environmental conditions. Here, we evaluate the combined effects of OW and OA on larval development and behavior in a factorial lab experiment. We maintained larval sea scallop cultures up to metamorphosis under a range of physico-chemical conditions (17℃ and 14℃, and pH 7.3, 7.6, 7.9). Sea scallop larval development time was temperature dependent (1 vs. 1.5 months). There was an interactive effect of OW and OA on growth, where OA limited gains in growth experienced in warmer conditions. OA limited a decline in distribution late in development, while OW dominated individual vertical swimming behavior in intermediate development. Finally, ΩAr growth sensitivity was intermediate compared to that of other bivalve taxa. These results contribute to an improved understanding of developmental and behavioral responses to OW and OA, and provide information necessary for improved larval dispersal models under ocean change.
ER -