Juvenile Pen Shells (Pinna nobilis) Tolerate Acidification but Are Vulnerable to Warming

In the course of this century, rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions will likely cause a decrease in ocean pH, know as ocean acidification, together with an increase of water temperature. Only in the last years, studies have focused on synergetic effects of both stressors on marine invertebrates, particularly on early life stages considered more vulnerable. Disparate responses of their singular and combined effects were reported, highlighting the importance of extending the studies to different species and populations of marine invertebrates. Here, we observed the response of important parameters such as growth, mortality and oxygen consumption of juvenile pen shell Pinna nobilis at supplied pCO2 gas levels of 400 ppm (ambient) and 1000 ppm and at three temperatures (20, 23 and 26 °C) during 36 days. To our knowledge, this is the first study on ocean acidification and temperature effects on juveniles of this species. We show that the two stressors play roles at distinct levels, with pCO2 influencing growth and partially mortality, and temperature increasing mortality rates and oxygen consumption strongly. Therefore, juveniles of P. nobilis are more likely affected by increasing temperature than the pCO2 levels expected by the end of the twenty-first century.