A short-term in situ CO 2 enrichment experiment on Heron Island (GBR)

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Kline, David, Teneva, Lida, Schneider, Kenneth, Miard, Thomas, Chai, Aaron, Marker, Malcolm, Headley, Kent, Opdyke, Bradley, Nash, Merinda, Valetich, Matthew, Caves, Jeremy, Russell, B.D., Connell, Sean D, Kirkwood, Bill J, Brewer, Peter, Peltzer, E.T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Keywords: calcium carbonate; carbon dioxide; sea water; animal; Anthozoa; article; chemistry; coral reef; ecology; geography; growth; development and aging; island (geological); marine biology; metabolism; methodology; pH; red alga; sediment; time; X ray diffractio; Heron Island; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/71026; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00413; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/71026/5/f5625xPUB2520_2012.pdf.jpg; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/71026/7/01_Kline_A_short-term_in_situ_CO_2__2012.pdf.jpg

Ocean acidification poses multiple challenges for coral reefs on molecular to ecological scales, yet previous experimental studies of the impact of projected CO 2 concentrations have mostly been done in aquarium systems with corals removed from their natural ecosystem and placed under artificial light and seawater conditions. The Coral-Proto Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment System (CP-FOCE) uses a network of sensors to monitor conditions within each flume and maintain experimental pH as an offset from environmental pH using feedback control on the injection of low pH seawater. Carbonate chemistry conditions maintained in the -0.06 and -0.22 pH offset treatments were significantly different than environmental conditions. The results from this short-term experiment suggest that the CP-FOCE is an important new experimental system to study in situ impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems.