Paper Reviewed
Parker, L.M., O'Connor, W.A., Raftos, D.A., Portner, H.-O. and Ross, P.M. 2015. Persistence of positive carryover effects in the oyster, Saccostrea glomerata, following transgenerational exposure to ocean acidification. PLOS ONE 10: e0132276.

Introducing their study of this intriguing subject, Parker et al. (2015) write that "recent transgenerational studies have shown that for some marine species, exposure of adults to OA [ocean acidification] can facilitate positive carryover effects to their larval and juvenile offspring that help them to survive in acidifying oceanic conditions." However, they say that "whether these positive carryover effects can persist into adulthood or the next generation is unknown."

Setting about to rectify this less-than-satisfactory situation, the five researchers tested, in their words, "whether positive carryover effects found in larvae of the oyster, Saccostrea glomerata following transgenerational exposure to elevated CO2, could persist into adulthood and whether subsequent transgenerational exposure of adults to elevated CO2 would facilitate similar adaptive responses in the next generation of larvae and juveniles." And what did they find by so doing?

In prescient answer to our question, Parker et al. wrote, in summing up their findings, that (1) "the capacity of adults to regulate extracellular pH at elevated CO2 was improved if they had a prior history of transgenerational exposure to elevated CO2," that (2) "subsequent trans-generational exposure of these adults led to an increase in the resilience of their larval and juvenile offspring," that (3-6) "offspring with a history of transgenerational exposure to elevated CO2 had [3] a lower percentage abnormality, [4] faster development rate, [5] faster shell growth and [6] increased heart rate at elevated CO2 compared with F2 offspring with no prior history of exposure to elevated CO2." And, therefore, they concluded -- quite logically, and in the case of the oysters they studied -- that (7) "positive carryover effects originating during parental and larval exposure will be important in mediating some of the impacts of OA for later life-history stages and generations."