Arctic Tipping Points

Posts Tagged ‘bivalves’

Sieving mud to collect clams

At the same time of the cruise with the Jan Mayen as described by Paul Wassman in the previous post a couple ATP colleagues are working at the university in Svalbard, UNIS, to study the combined effect of temperature rise and ocean acidification on arctic bivalve larvae. Why larvae? Because this is the most sensitive life stage of benthic bivalves inhabiting the sediment of the fjords and studies have shown that temperate  larvae are affected by the effects of Global Change. We study the period in which the larvae first forms the larval shell, and want to know if calcification is hindered by changes in ocean pH.

Our team includes from Spain:

• Iris Hendriks,
• Amanda Dorsett,
• Paloma Carillo,
• Alexandra Steckbauer

from Norway:

• Paul Renaud,
• Mikko Vihtakari,
• Sanna Makkulen

After the cruise Johnna Holding (Spain) will return to tierra firme to work with us.

We have finished setting up the equipment in the lab and now only need the clams to produce the larvae. That is no trivial point as the bivalves need to be taken in the right time of year. Last monday we set out on the Jan Mayen and encountered 5 different species but only 3 individuals of the clams we set our mind on. We will try to see if the other species are suitable and part of the team went back to the Fjord today to try again. Let´s hope we will be lucky!