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Ocean acidification reduces sperm flagellar motility in broadcast spawning reef invertebrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2009

Masaya Morita ,
Ryota Suwa ,
Akira Iguchi ,
Masako Nakamura ,
Kazuaki Shimada ,
Kazuhiko Sakai  and
Atsushi Suzuki
Masaya Morita
Affiliation:
Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905–0227, Japan.
Ryota Suwa*
Affiliation:
Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905-0227, Japan.
Akira Iguchi
Affiliation:
Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905–0227, Japan.
Masako Nakamura
Affiliation:
Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905–0227, Japan.
Kazuaki Shimada
Affiliation:
Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 164-8639, Japan.
Kazuhiko Sakai
Affiliation:
Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905–0227, Japan.
Atsushi Suzuki
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan.
*
All correspondence to: Ryota Suwa. Sesoko Station, Tropical Biosphere Research Center, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 905-0227, Japan. Tel: +81 980 47 3049. Fax: +81 980 47 4919. e-mail: ryota@zenno.jp
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Summary

Ocean acidification is now recognized as a threat to marine ecosystems; however, the effect of ocean acidification on fertilization in marine organisms is still largely unknown. In this study, we focused on sperm flagellar motility in broadcast spawning reef invertebrates (a coral and a sea cucumber). Below pH 7.7, the pH predicted to occur within the next 100 years, sperm flagellar motility was seriously impaired in these organisms. Considering that sperm flagellar motility is indispensable for transporting the paternal haploid genome for fertilization, fertilization taking place in seawater may decline in the not too distant future. Urgent surveys are necessary for a better understanding of the physiological consequences of ocean acidification on sperm flagellar motility in a wide range of marine invertebrates.

Keywords

FertilizationOcean acidificationReef invertebratesSperm flagellar motility
Type
Research Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , May 2010 , pp. 103 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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