Effects of acidified seawater on calcification, photosynthetic efficiencies and the recovery processes from strong light exposure in the coral Stylophora pistillata

• Published in: Marine Ecology
• Main Authors: Nakamura, Takashi, Iguchi, Akira, Suzuki, Atsushi, Sakai, Kazuhiko, Nojiri, Yukihiro
• Other Authors: Ministry of the Environment of Japan, KAKENHI
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017
• Subjects: Ecology; Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/maec.12444; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmaec.12444; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/maec.12444

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate whether coral photosynthetic efficiencies and recovery processes are affected by CO 2 ‐driven ocean acidification in symbiont photosynthesis and coral calcification. We investigated the effects of five CO 2 partial pressure ( p CO 2 ) levels in adjusted seawater ranging from 300 μatm (pre‐industrial) to 800 μatm (near‐future) and strong and weak light intensity on maximum photosynthetic efficiency and calcification of a branching coral, Stylophora pistillata , as this species has often been used in rearing experiments to investigate the effects of acidified seawater on calcification and photosynthetic algae of corals. We found that, the photosynthetic efficiencies and recovery patterns under different light conditions did not differ among p CO 2 treatments. Furthermore, calcification of S. pistillata was not affected by acidified seawater under weak or strong light conditions. Our results indicate that the photosynthetic efficiency and calcification of S. pistillata are insensitive to changes in ocean acidity.