Morphological plasticity of the coral skeleton under CO2-driven seawater acidification ...

• Main Authors: Tambutté, Eric, Venn, Alexander A, Holcomb, Michael, Segonds, N, Techer, N, Zoccola, Didier, Allemand, Denis, Tambutté, Sylvie
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Acid-base regulation; Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; Mediterranean Sea; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Respiration; Single species; Stylophora pistillata; Tropical; Species; Figure; Table; Treatment; Calcification rate of calcium carbonate; Calcification rate, standard error; Linear extension; Linear extension, standard error; Density, skeletal bulk; Density, skeletal bulk, standard error; Porosity; Porosity, standard error; Calcifying fluid, pH; Calcifying fluid, pH, standard error; pH; pH, standard error; Area in square milimeter; Area, standard error; Organic matrix protein, per skeleton; Organic matrix protein, per skeleton, standard error; Corallite, per skeleton surface area; Corallite, per skeleton surface area, standard error; Photosynthesis rate of oxygen; Photosynthesis rate of oxygen, standard error; Respiration rate, oxygen; Respiration rate, oxygen, standard error; Protein per surface area; Proteins, standard error; Symbiont cell density; Symbiont cell density, standard error; Chlorophyll a; Chlorophyll a, standard error; Chlorophyll c2; Chlorophyll c2, standard error; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.853572; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.853572

Ocean acidification causes corals to calcify at reduced rates, but current understanding of the underlying processes is limited. Here, we conduct a mechanistic study into how seawater acidification alters skeletal growth of the coral Stylophora pistillata. Reductions in colony calcification rates are manifested as increases in skeletal porosity at lower pH, while linear extension of skeletons remains unchanged. Inspection of the microstructure of skeletons and measurements of pH at the site of calcification indicate that dissolution is not responsible for changes in skeletal porosity. Instead, changes occur by enlargement of corallite-calyxes and thinning of associated skeletal elements, constituting a modification in skeleton architecture. We also detect increases in the organic matrix protein content of skeletons formed under lower pH. Overall, our study reveals that seawater acidification not only causes decreases in calcification, but can also cause morphological change of the coral skeleton to a more ... : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Gattuso et al, 2015) 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). The date of carbonate chemistry calculation is 2015-09-24. ...