Combined effects of coral reef foraminifera Marginopora vertebralis and Heterostegina depressa in a multi-fractorial experiment ...

• Main Authors: Schmidt, Christiane, Kucera, Michal, Uthicke, Sven
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2014
• Subjects: Center for Marine Environmental Sciences MARUM; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.836582; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.836582

Warming and changes in ocean carbonate chemistry alter marine coastal ecosystems at an accelerating pace. The interaction between these stressors has been the subject of recent studies on reef organisms such as corals, bryozoa, molluscs, and crustose coralline algae. Here we investigated the combined effects of elevated sea surface temperatures and pCO2 on two species of photosymbiont-bearing coral reef Foraminifera: Heterostegina depressa (hosting diatoms) and Marginopora vertebralis (hosting dinoflagellates). The effects of single and combined stressors were studied by monitoring survivorship, growth, and physiological parameters, such as respiration, photochemistry (pulse amplitude modulation fluorometry and oxygen production), and chl a content. Specimens were exposed in flow-through aquaria for up to seven weeks to combinations of two pCO2 (~790 and ~490 µatm) and two temperature (28 and 31 °C) regimes. Elevated temperature had negative effects on the physiology of both species. Elevated pCO2 had ... : Supplement to: Schmidt, Christiane; Kucera, Michal; Uthicke, Sven (2014): Combined effects of warming and ocean acidification on coral reef Foraminifera Marginopora vertebralis and Heterostegina depressa. Coral Reefs, 33(3), 805-818 ...