Ocean acidification is expected to affect marine organisms in the near future. Furthermore, abrupt short-term fluctuations in seawater pCO₂ characteristic of near-short coastal regions and high-density aquaculture sites currently have the potential to influence organismal and community functioning by altering animal behaviour. While anti-predator responses in fishes exposed to elevated pCO₂ are well documented, such responses in benthic marine invertebrates are poorly studied. We used high frequency, non-invasive biosensors to test whether or not short term (3-week) exposure to elevated pCO₂ could impact behavioural responses to the threat of predation in adult Mediterranean mussels from Galicia on the northwestern coast of Spain. Predator alarm cues (crushed conspecifics) resulted in a prolonged (1 h) reduction in the degree of valve opening (−20%) but had no clear effect on overall valve movement activity, while elevated pCO₂ did not affect either response. Our results add to the increasing body of evidence suggesting that the effects of end-of-century pCO₂ levels on marine animal behaviour are likely weak. Nonetheless, longer-term exposures spanning multiple generations are needed to better understand how ocean acidification might impact behavioural responses to predation in marine bivalves.

预计海洋酸化将在不久的将来影响海洋生物。此外，近短期沿海地区和高密度水产养殖场所特有的海水p CO ₂的短期短期波动目前有可能通过改变动物的行为来影响生物和群落功能。虽然有充分的证据证明暴露于较高p CO _2的鱼类中的抗捕食者反应，但对底栖海洋无脊椎动物中此类反应的研究却很少。我们使用了高频无创生物传感器来测试是否短期（3周）暴露于升高的p CO _2中可能会影响对西班牙西北海岸加利西亚的成年地中海贻贝捕食威胁的行为反应。捕食者警报提示（压碎的特定物）导致阀门开度延长（1小时）（-20％），但对总体阀门运动没有明显影响，而升高的p CO ₂既不影响任何响应。我们的结果增加了越来越多的证据，表明世纪末p CO ₂水平对海洋动物行为的影响可能很弱。尽管如此，仍需要跨越多个世代的长期接触，以更好地了解海洋酸化如何影响海洋双壳类动物对捕食行为的反应。