The sibling polychaetes Platynereis dumerilii and Platynereis massiliensis in the Mediterranean Sea: are phylogeographic patterns related to exposure to ocean acidification?

High p CO 2 environments, such as volcanic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) vents, which mimic predicted near-future scenarios of ocean acidification (OA), offer an opportunity to examine effects of low pH conditions on marine biodiversity and adaptation/acclimatization of marine organisms to such conditions. Based on previous field studies in these systems, it is predicted that the stress owing to increasing CO 2 concentrations favours the colonization by invertebrate species with a brooding habit. The goal of this study was to investigate the relative occurrence of the two sibling species Platynereis dumerilii (Audouin & Milne-Edwards, 1834) (free spawner) and Platynereis massiliensis (Moquin-Tandon, 1869 ) (egg brooder) in two shallow CO 2 vents off Ischia and Vulcano islands (Italy, Tyrrhenian Sea), and in various areas with ambient pH conditions, where they represent one of the dominant genera. Phylogeographic analyses were integrated with reproductive biology and life-history observations on some selected populations thriving in the vent areas. This approach revealed the presence of four distinct Platynereis clades. Whereas two clades primarily inhabit CO 2 vents and are presumably all brooders, the other two clades dominate the non-acidified sites and appear to be epitokous free spawners. We postulate that one of the brooding, vent-inhabiting clades represents P. massiliensis and one of the free spawning, non-vent-inhabiting clades represents P. dumerilii , although confirmation of the species status with sequence data from the respective-type localities would be desirable.