Micro-CT analysis of the Caribbean octocoral Eunicea flexuosa subjected to elevated pCO2, supplement to: Enochs, I C; Manzello, Derek P; Wirshing, H H; Carlton, R; Serafy, J (2016): Micro-CT analysis of the Caribbean octocoral Eunicea flexuosa subjected to elevated pCO2. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 73(3), 910-919

• Main Authors: Enochs, I C, Manzello, Derek P, Wirshing, H H, Carlton, R, Serafy, J
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2016
• Subjects: Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria 20-1000 L or < 1 m**2; Eunicea flexuosa; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; North Atlantic; Single species; Temperate; Type; Species; Registration number of species; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Treatment; Light attenuation coefficient; Attenuation coefficient, standard error; Volume; Volume, standard error; Surface area; Area, standard error; Linear extension; Extension rate, standard error; Percentage; Percentage, standard error; Total counts; Counts, standard error; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard error; Salinity; Salinity, standard error; Dry air column-averaged mixing ratio of carbon dioxide; Dry air column-averaged mixing ratio of carbon dioxide, standard error; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard error; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard error; pH; pH, standard error; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air, standard error; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard error; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Bicarbonate ion; Carbonate ion; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using CO2SYS; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. 2010; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre OA-ICC; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.867565; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.867565

Rising anthropogenic carbon dioxide has resulted in a drop in ocean pH, a phenomenon known as ocean acidification (OA). These acidified waters have many ramifications for diverse marine biota, especially those species which precipitate calcium carbonate skeletons. The permanence of coral reef ecosystems is therefore closely related to OA stress as habitat-forming corals will exhibit reduced calcification and growth. Relatively little is known concerning the fate of other constituent taxa which may either suffer concomitant declines or be competitively favoured in acidified waters. Here, we experimentally (49 d) test the effects of next century predictions for OA (pH = 7.75, pCO2 = 1081 µatm) vs. near-present-day conditions (pH = 8.01, pCO2 = 498 µatm) on the common Caribbean octocoral Eunicea flexuosa. We measure linear extension of this octocoral and use a novel technique, high-resolution micro-computed tomography, to measure potential differences in the morphology of calcified internal skeletal structures (sclerites) in a 2 mm apical section of each branch. Despite the use of highly accurate procedures, we found no significant differences between treatments in either the growth of E. flexuosa branches or the structure of their sclerites. Our results suggest a degree of resilience to OA stress and provide evidence that this octocoral species may persist on Caribbean coral reefs, despite global change. : 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 2016-11-03.