Seawater carbonate chemistry and photosynthetic physiology and inorganic carbon processing of the temperate coral Oculina arbuscula

• Main Authors: Wang, C, Arneson, Erin M, Gleason, Daniel F, Hopkinson, Brian M
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2021
• Subjects: Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria 20-1000 L or < 1 m**2; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; North Atlantic; Oculina arbuscula; Other metabolic rates; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Respiration; Single species; Temperate; Type; Species; Registration number of species; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Experiment duration; Treatment; Identification; Coral fragments; Growth rate per area; Symbiont cell density; Chlorophyll a per cell; Chlorophyll c per cell; Peridinin per cell; Extracellular carbonic anhydrase activity; Intracellular carbonic anhydrase activity; Light saturated maximum photosynthetic rate; Respiration rate, oxygen; Light saturation; Maximum quantum yield of photosystem II; Turnover time of the first electron acceptor in Photosystem II; Turnover time of the plastoquinone pool; Ratio; pH; Alkalinity, total; Salinity; Temperature, water; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Fugacity of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Bicarbonate ion; Carbonate ion; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Aragonite saturation state; Calcite saturation state; Experiment; 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.931943; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.931943

Both juvenile and adult life stages of the temperate scleractinian coral Oculina arbuscula are resilient to the effects of moderate ocean acidification (OA) in contrast to many tropical corals in which growth and calcification rates are suppressed. Here, potential mechanisms of resilience to OA related to photosynthetic physiology and inorganic carbon processing were studied in adult O. arbuscula colonies. After exposing colonies to ambient and elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) treatments for 7 weeks, photosynthetic performance was characterized using photosynthesis versus irradiance experiments, chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics, and algal pigment content. Inorganic carbon-processing capabilities were assessed by measurement of internal and external carbonic anhydrase activity of the coral host, internal carbonic anhydrase activity of symbiotic algae, and the reliance of photosynthesis on external carbonic anhydrase. Photosynthetic physiology was unaffected by OA ruling out the possibility that resilience was mediated by increased photosynthetic energy supply. Carbonic anhydrase activities were maintained at elevated CO2 suggesting no major rearrangements of the inorganic carbon-processing machinery, but this could be a sign of resilience since tropical corals often down-regulate carbonic anhydrases at high CO2. The general lack of effect of ocean acidification on these physiological traits suggests other characteristics, such as maintenance of calcifying fluid pH and ability to acquire energy from heterotrophy, may be more important for the resilience of O. arbuscula to OA. : In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Gattuso et al, 2021) 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 by seacarb is 2021-05-31.