RESUMO
Anthropogenic CO2 emissions have led to the warming and acidification of the oceans. Although, there is a growing of evidence showing that simultaneous occurrence of ocean acidification and ocean warming are threats to marine organisms, information on their combined effect on coastal shrimp species remains scarce. The purpose of this study was to estimate the combined effects of seawater acidification and warming on growth-related traits and biochemical responses of P. elegans juveniles. In this work, shrimp were exposed for 65 days at 4 experimental conditions: pH 8.10 * 18 °C, pH 7.80 * 18 °C, pH 8.10 * 22 °C, pH 7.80 * 22 °C. The results showed that low pH decreases the lipid content by â¼13% (p < 0.05). Higher temperature reduced the condition factor by â¼11%, the protein content by â¼20%, the PUFA by â¼8,6% and shortened moulting events by 5 days (p > 0.05) while the SFA increased â¼9.4%. The decrease in condition factor and protein was however more prominent in organisms exposed to the combination of pH and temperature with a decrease of â¼13% and â¼21%, respectively. Furthermore, essential fatty acids as EPA and DHA also decreased by â¼20% and â¼6.6% in low pH and higher temperature condition. Despite this study suggest that warming may have a greater impact than acidification, it has been shown that their combined effect can exacerbate these impacts with consequences for the shrimp's body size and biochemical profile.