The impacts of ocean acidification and multiple estuarine stressors on early-life stage of bivalve shellfish from a laboratory experiment study (NCEI Accession 0172041)

This dataset contains results (e.g., mean survival, growth, and developmental rate etc.) from laboratory-based trials involving early-life stage (larval and juvenile) bivalve shellfish exposed to: 1) diurnal fluctuations in carbonate chemistry and dissolved oxygen; (2) chronic exposures to multiple, estuarine stressors (e.g., low pH, low DO, and thermal stress); and (3) transgenerational acidification. Results from diurnal experiments indicated that exposure to ideal conditions (e.g., pH = 7.9; DO > 7 mg/L) during the daytime did not offset the harmful impacts of acidification and hypoxia experienced by both larval- and juvenile-staged bivalve shellfish during non-daylight hours. In addition, laboratory studies involving chronic (i.e., sustained conditions) exposures to several estuarine stressors revealed that the combined and interactive impacts of multiple, co-occurring stressors can be more detrimental than singular exposures to individual stressors, outcomes that cannot be predicted based upon laboratory investigations using individual, separate exposures. Finally, unlike previous studies with other bivalve species, parental exposure environmentally relevant levels of coastal acidification does not mitigate the harmful effects manifested among next-generation offspring exposed to similar levels of acidification and, in fact, rendered offspring more sensitive to low pH and multiple, additional stressors.