Data from: Ocean acidification alters predator behaviour and reduces predation rate

Ocean acidification poses a range of threats to marine invertebrates;
however, the emerging and likely widespread effects of rising carbon
dioxide (CO2) levels on marine invertebrate behaviour are still little
understood. Here, we show that ocean acidification alters and impairs key
ecological behaviours of the predatory cone snail Conus marmoreus.
Projected near-future seawater CO2 levels (975 µatm) increased activity in
this coral reef molluscivore more than threefold (from less than 4 to more
than 12 mm min−1) and decreased the time spent buried to less than
one-third when compared with the present-day control conditions (390
µatm). Despite increasing activity, elevated CO2 reduced predation rate
during predator–prey interactions with control-treated humpbacked conch,
Gibberulus gibberulus gibbosus; 60% of control predators successfully
captured and consumed their prey, compared with only 10% of elevated CO2
predators. The alteration of key ecological behaviours of predatory
invertebrates by near-future ocean acidification could have potentially
far-reaching implications for predator–prey interactions and trophic
dynamics in marine ecosystems. Combined evidence that the behaviours of
both species in this predator–prey relationship are altered by elevated
CO2 suggests food web interactions and ecosystem structure will become
increasingly difficult to predict as ocean acidification advances over
coming decades.