Editors in chief: Ulf Riebesell, Victoria J. Fabry, Jean-Pierre Gattuso

The Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Acidification Research and Data Reporting is intended as a reference to provide guidance for research in the rapidly growing field of ocean acidification. Its preparation was initiated by the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) and the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and sponsored by EPOCA, IOC, the Scientific Council on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the U.S. Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Project (OCB), and the Kiel Excellence Cluster “The Future Ocean”. Each section of the guide listed below was read by independent experts in the field whose comments and suggestions were incorporated.

All scientists are invited to provide comments andsuggestions on any aspect of the guide to the lead authors of therespective sections and cc to the editors. Lead authors may decide toinclude the names of experts who have provided substantial input totheir section to the list of contributing authors. After completion ofthe review by the marine science community, the guide will be madeavailable electronically and in printed form via EPOCA, IOC and OCB.

Therecognition and usefulness of this guide critically depends on thelevel of community consensus it can generate. We therefore urge you toprovide input on any part of this document. After completion the guidewill be made available electronically and in printed form via EPOCA,IOC and OCB. It is envisioned to revisit and possibly revise the guideto accommodate new developments in the field in a few years time.

Weare grateful to all colleagues who have contributed their time to thepreparation of this guide as chapter editors, lead and contributingauthors and expert reviewers.

The open review process is now completed and the publication is expected early 2010. 

Contact the editors for more information.

Outline of the guide

Part 1: Seawater carbonate chemistry     

Chapter 1 The carbon dioxide system in sea water: equilibrium chemistry and measurements (draft PDF)

Andrew Dickson

Chapter 2 Approaches and tools to manipulate the carbonate chemistry (draft PDF)

Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Kunshan Gao, Kitack Lee, Björn Rost, Kai G. Schulz

Part 2: Experimental design of perturbation experiments          

Chapter 3 Atmospheric CO2 targets for ocean acidification perturbation experiments (draft PDF)

James Barry, Toby Tyrrell, Lina Hansson, Jean-Pierre Gattuso

Chapter 4 Designing ocean acidification experiments to maximise inference (draft PDF)

Jon Havenhand, Sam Dupont, Gerry Quinn

Chapter 5 Bioassays, batch culture and chemostat experimentation (draft PDF)

Julie LaRoche, Björn Rost, Anja Engel

Chapter 6 Pelagic mesocosms (draft PDF)

Ulf Riebesell, Kitack Lee, Jens Nejstgaard

Chapter 7 Laboratory experiments and benthic mesocosm studies (draft PDF)

Steve Widdicombe, Sam Dupont, Mike Thorndyke

Chapter 8 In situ perturbation experiments: natural venting sites, spatial / temporal gradients in ocean pH, manipulative in situ pCO2 perturbations (draft PDF)

James Barry, Jason Hall-Spencer, Toby Tyrell

Part 3:  Measurements of CO2 sensitive processes    

Chapter 9 Studies of metabolism and acid-base status (draft PDF)

Hans-Otto Pörtner, Ulf Bickmeyer, Markus Bleich, Christian Bock, Colin Brownlee, Franck Melzner, Basile Michaelidis, Franz Josef Sartoris, Daniela Storch 

Chapter 10 Studies of metabolic and other characters across life stages

Hans-Otto Pörtner, Sam Dupont, Franck Melzner, Mike Thorndyke

Chapter 11 Organic and export production, elemental ratios (draft PDF)

Anja Engel, Joana Barcelos e Ramos, Richard Geider, David A.Hutchins, Cindy Lee, Björn Rost, Rüdiger Röttgers, Frede Thingstad

Chapter 12 Direct measurements of calcification rates in planktonic organisms (draft PDF)

Victoria J. Fabry, William M. Balch

Chapter 13 Measurements of calcification of benthic organisms and communities  (draft PDF)

Chris Langdon, Jean-Pierre Gattuso and Andreas Andersson

Part 4: Data reporting and data usage    

Chapter 14 Modeling considerations (draft PDF)

Andreas Oschlies, Jeremy Blackford, Marion Gehlen

Chapter 15 Safeguarding and sharing ocean acidification knowledge (draft PDF)

Stéphane Pesant, Leslie Allan Hook, Roy Lowry, Anne-Marin Nisumaa, Benjamin Pfeil