Synergistic effects of hypoxia and increasing CO2 on benthic invertebrates of the central Chilean coast
Ocean acidification (OA) and hypoxic events are an increasing worldwide problem, but the synergetic effects of these factors are seldom explored. However, this synergetic occurrence of stressors is prevalent. The coastline of Chile not only suffers from coastal hypoxia but the cold, oxygen-poor waters in upwelling events are also supersaturated in CO2, a study site to explore the combined effect of OA and hypoxia. We experimentally evaluated the metabolic response of different invertebrate species (2 anthozoans, 9 molluscs, 4 crustaceans, 2 echinoderms) of the coastline of central Chile (33°30′S, 71°37′W) to hypoxia and OA within predicted levels and in a full factorial design.