Effect of Ocean acidification upon ability to adapt to climate change in Nereis species - Research Paper Example

These pH levels range from 6.6-7.3 in the CO2 vents that exist in Ischia (Calosi, et al, 2013, 1208). Nereis zonata also has the ability to survive in low pH areas, if conclusions made after research on the relationship between Nereis Zonata and the level of organic enrichment of the sea-water holds (Murphy & Measures, 2014, 442). Imaging of Nereis succinea subjected to increased pH indicates that the pH of the porewater depended on the size of the organism, the rate of irrigation and the profile of the burrow (Davidson, 2013,17).

Before the introduction of variations in the pH, the Nereis diversicolor indicate a mean pH of 7.73. This internal pH is the same when compared to the other individuals in the same species (Calosi, et al, 2013, 1221). With differences in the pH, the individuals of the Nereis genus undergo some changes. With high salinity, they tend to lose energy. However, the Nereis Succinea loses more energy when compared with the Nereis diversicolor (Davidson, 2013, 19). However, with a drop in the salinity, the Nereis succinea loses considerably less energy compared to Nereis diversicolor. The P. dumerilii loses even less energy compared to all the others, because of its ability to survive under extremely low pH levels in the CO2 vents (Sommer, et al, 2000, 283).

There is a notable and consistent difference in the effect that p CO2 has on the metabolic rate between the tolerant and sensitive species of polychaete. The patterns of response as observed after research may have been arrived at through either adaptation or acclimatization. It is a fact that organisms may have the ability to change their physiology through phenotypic plasticity, also known acclimatization (Armstrong, 2013, 593). For the P. dumerilii, acclimatization takes place through selecting genotypes that have a link with phenotypes that possess the best ability to