Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 8 2009 10.5194/bg-6-1479-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1479/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1479/2009/bg-6-1479-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/1479/2009/bg-6-1479-2009.pdf 1479 1489 2009-08-07 The subtle effects of sea water acidification on the amphipod <i>Gammarus locusta</i> C. Hauton ch10@noc.soton.ac.uk T. Tyrrell J. Williams School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES), University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre (NOCS), European Way, Southampton, Hants, SO14 3ZH, UK We report an investigation of the effects of increases in <i>p</i>CO₂ on the survival, growth and molecular physiology of the neritic amphipod <i>Gammarus locusta</i> which has a cosmopolitan distribution in estuaries. Amphipods were reared from juvenile to mature adult in laboratory microcosms at three different levels of pH in nominal range 8.1–7.6. Growth rate was estimated from weekly measures of body length. At sexual maturity the amphipods were sacrificed and assayed for changes in the expression of genes coding for a heat shock protein (<i>hsp70</i> gene) and the metabolic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (<i>gapdh</i> gene). The data show that the growth and survival of this species is not significantly impacted by a decrease in sea water pH of up to 0.5 units. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated that there was no significant effect of growth in acidified sea water on the sustained expression of the <i>hsp70</i> gene. There was a consistent and significant increase in the expression of the <i>gapdh</i> gene at a pH of ~7.5 which, when combined with observations from other workers, suggests that metabolic changes may occur in response to acidification. 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