Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification
Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.220760 2024-10-06T13:51:49+00:00 Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification Doucette, Violet E. Rodriguez Bravo, Lucia M. Altieri, Andrew H. Johnson, Maggie D. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.220760 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 11 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 2024-09-17T04:34:41Z Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond to OA. We explored how two common Caribbean competitors, branching Porites and a colonial zoanthid ( Zoanthus ), respond to the factorial combination of OA and competition. In the laboratory, we exposed corals, zoanthids and interacting corals and zoanthids to ambient (8.01 ± 0.03) and OA (7.68 ± 0.07) conditions for 60 days. The OA treatment had no measured effect on zoanthids or coral calcification but decreased Porites maximum PSII efficiency. Conversely, the competitive interaction significantly decreased Porites calcification but had minimal-to-no countereffects on the zoanthid. Although this interaction was not exacerbated by the 60-day OA exposure, environmental changes that enhance zoanthid performance could add to the dominance of zoanthids over corals. The lack of effects of OA on coral calcification indicates that near-term competitive interactions may have more immediate consequences for some corals than future global change scenarios. Disparate consequences of competition have implications for community structure and should be accounted for when evaluating local coral reef trajectories. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification The Royal Society Royal Society Open Science 9 11 |
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The Royal Society |
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English |
description |
Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond to OA. We explored how two common Caribbean competitors, branching Porites and a colonial zoanthid ( Zoanthus ), respond to the factorial combination of OA and competition. In the laboratory, we exposed corals, zoanthids and interacting corals and zoanthids to ambient (8.01 ± 0.03) and OA (7.68 ± 0.07) conditions for 60 days. The OA treatment had no measured effect on zoanthids or coral calcification but decreased Porites maximum PSII efficiency. Conversely, the competitive interaction significantly decreased Porites calcification but had minimal-to-no countereffects on the zoanthid. Although this interaction was not exacerbated by the 60-day OA exposure, environmental changes that enhance zoanthid performance could add to the dominance of zoanthids over corals. The lack of effects of OA on coral calcification indicates that near-term competitive interactions may have more immediate consequences for some corals than future global change scenarios. Disparate consequences of competition have implications for community structure and should be accounted for when evaluating local coral reef trajectories. |
author2 |
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Doucette, Violet E. Rodriguez Bravo, Lucia M. Altieri, Andrew H. Johnson, Maggie D. |
spellingShingle |
Doucette, Violet E. Rodriguez Bravo, Lucia M. Altieri, Andrew H. Johnson, Maggie D. Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
author_facet |
Doucette, Violet E. Rodriguez Bravo, Lucia M. Altieri, Andrew H. Johnson, Maggie D. |
author_sort |
Doucette, Violet E. |
title |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_short |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_full |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_fullStr |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_full_unstemmed |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_sort |
negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.220760 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 11 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 |
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Royal Society Open Science |
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9 |
container_issue |
11 |
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1812180105836888064 |