Seawater carbonate chemistry and coral (Acropora digitifera and Acropora tenuis) algal infection rate, survival and surface area of plyps during experiments, 2009, supplement to: Suwa, Ryota; Nakamura, Masoko; Morita, Masaya; Shimada, Kazuaki; Iguchi, Akira; Sakai, Kazuhiko; Suzuki, Atsushi (2009): Effects of acidified seawater on early life stages of scleractinian corals (Genus Acropora). Fisheries Science, 76(1), 93-99

• Main Authors: Suwa, Ryota, Nakamura, Masoko, Morita, Masaya, Shimada, Kazuaki, Iguchi, Akira, Sakai, Kazuhiko, Suzuki, Atsushi
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2010
• Subjects: Acropora digitifera; Acropora tenuis; Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria <20 L; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; Mortality/Survival; North Pacific; Other studied parameter or process; Single species; Temperate; Species; Experiment day; Experimental treatment; Identification; Salinity; Temperature, water; pH; Alkalinity, total; Bicarbonate ion; Carbonate ion; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Aragonite saturation state; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Calcite saturation state; Acropora digitifera, algal infection rate; Survival; Acropora digitifera, surface area of polyps; Acropora digitifera, surface area of polyps, standard deviation; Measured; Metrohm Titrando titrator; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. 2010; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis EUR-OCEANS; European Project on Ocean Acidification EPOCA; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre OA-ICC; Pacific; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.758198; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.758198

Ocean acidification, caused by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, is currently an important environmental problem. It is therefore necessary to investigate the effects of ocean acidification on all life stages of a wide range of marine organisms. However, few studies have examined the effects of increased CO2 on early life stages of organisms, including corals. Using a range of pH values (pH 7.3, 7.6, and 8.0) in manipulative duplicate aquarium experiments, we have evaluated the effects of increased CO2 on early life stages (larval and polyp stages) of Acropora spp. with the aim of estimating CO2 tolerance thresholds at these stages. Larval survival rates did not differ significantly between the reduced pH and control conditions. In contrast, polyp growth and algal infection rates were significantly decreased at reduced pH levels compared to control conditions. These results suggest that future ocean acidification may lead to reduced primary polyp growth and delayed establishment of symbiosis. Stress exposure experiments using longer experimental time scales and lower levels of CO2 concentrations than those used in this study are needed to establish the threshold of CO2 emissions required to sustain coral reef ecosystems. : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Lavigne and Gattuso, 2011) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI).