Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata
Coral reefs may experience lower pH values as a result of ocean acidification (OA), which has negative consequences, particularly for calcifying organisms. Thus far, the effects of this global factor have been mainly investigated on hard corals, while the effects on soft corals remain relatively und...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 |
id |
crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 2024-05-19T07:46:33+00:00 Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata Tilstra, Arjen Braxator, Lorena Thobor, Bianca Mezger, Selma D. Hill, Claudia E. L. El-Khaled, Yusuf C. Caporale, Giulia Kim, Sohyoung Wild, Christian Rahman, Md. Naimur Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 11, page e0294470 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2023 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 2024-05-01T07:01:52Z Coral reefs may experience lower pH values as a result of ocean acidification (OA), which has negative consequences, particularly for calcifying organisms. Thus far, the effects of this global factor have been mainly investigated on hard corals, while the effects on soft corals remain relatively understudied. We therefore carried out a manipulative aquarium experiment for 21 days to study the response of the widespread pulsating soft coral Xenia umbellata to simulated OA conditions. We gradually decreased the pH from ambient (~8.3) to three consecutive 7-day long pH treatments of 8.0, 7.8, and 7.6, using a CO 2 dosing system. Monitored response variables included pulsation rate, specific growth rate, visual coloration, survival, Symbiodiniaceae cell densities and chlorophyll a content, photosynthesis and respiration, and finally stable isotopes of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) as well as CN content. Pulsation decreased compared to controls with each consecutive lowering of the pH, i.e., 17% at pH 8.0, 26% at pH 7.8 and 32% at pH 7.6, accompanied by an initial decrease in growth rates of ~60% at pH 8.0, not decreasing further at lower pH. An 8.3 ‰ decrease of δ 13 C confirmed that OA exposed colonies had a higher uptake and availability of atmospheric CO 2 . Coral productivity, i.e., photosynthesis, was not affected by higher dissolved inorganic C availability and none of the remaining response variables showed any significant differences. Our findings suggest that pulsation is a phenotypically plastic mechanism for X . umbellata to adjust to different pH values, resulting in reduced growth rates only, while maintaining high productivity. Consequently, pulsation may allow X . umbellata to inhabit a broad pH range with minimal effects on its overall health. This resilience may contribute to the competitive advantage that soft corals, particularly X . umbellata , have over hard corals. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification PLOS PLOS ONE 18 11 e0294470 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PLOS |
op_collection_id |
crplos |
language |
English |
description |
Coral reefs may experience lower pH values as a result of ocean acidification (OA), which has negative consequences, particularly for calcifying organisms. Thus far, the effects of this global factor have been mainly investigated on hard corals, while the effects on soft corals remain relatively understudied. We therefore carried out a manipulative aquarium experiment for 21 days to study the response of the widespread pulsating soft coral Xenia umbellata to simulated OA conditions. We gradually decreased the pH from ambient (~8.3) to three consecutive 7-day long pH treatments of 8.0, 7.8, and 7.6, using a CO 2 dosing system. Monitored response variables included pulsation rate, specific growth rate, visual coloration, survival, Symbiodiniaceae cell densities and chlorophyll a content, photosynthesis and respiration, and finally stable isotopes of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) as well as CN content. Pulsation decreased compared to controls with each consecutive lowering of the pH, i.e., 17% at pH 8.0, 26% at pH 7.8 and 32% at pH 7.6, accompanied by an initial decrease in growth rates of ~60% at pH 8.0, not decreasing further at lower pH. An 8.3 ‰ decrease of δ 13 C confirmed that OA exposed colonies had a higher uptake and availability of atmospheric CO 2 . Coral productivity, i.e., photosynthesis, was not affected by higher dissolved inorganic C availability and none of the remaining response variables showed any significant differences. Our findings suggest that pulsation is a phenotypically plastic mechanism for X . umbellata to adjust to different pH values, resulting in reduced growth rates only, while maintaining high productivity. Consequently, pulsation may allow X . umbellata to inhabit a broad pH range with minimal effects on its overall health. This resilience may contribute to the competitive advantage that soft corals, particularly X . umbellata , have over hard corals. |
author2 |
Rahman, Md. Naimur Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tilstra, Arjen Braxator, Lorena Thobor, Bianca Mezger, Selma D. Hill, Claudia E. L. El-Khaled, Yusuf C. Caporale, Giulia Kim, Sohyoung Wild, Christian |
spellingShingle |
Tilstra, Arjen Braxator, Lorena Thobor, Bianca Mezger, Selma D. Hill, Claudia E. L. El-Khaled, Yusuf C. Caporale, Giulia Kim, Sohyoung Wild, Christian Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
author_facet |
Tilstra, Arjen Braxator, Lorena Thobor, Bianca Mezger, Selma D. Hill, Claudia E. L. El-Khaled, Yusuf C. Caporale, Giulia Kim, Sohyoung Wild, Christian |
author_sort |
Tilstra, Arjen |
title |
Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
title_short |
Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
title_full |
Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
title_fullStr |
Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
title_full_unstemmed |
Short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral Xenia umbellata |
title_sort |
short-term ocean acidification decreases pulsation and growth of the widespread soft coral xenia umbellata |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 11, page e0294470 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294470 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
e0294470 |
_version_ |
1799486767760408576 |