Seawater carbonate chemistry and conceptacle abundance and size of coralline algae Hydrolithon reinboldii

• Main Authors: Moore, B, Comeau, Steeve, Bekaert, M, Cossais, A, Purdy, A, Larcombe, E, Puerzer, F, McCulloch, Malcolm T, Cornwall, Christopher Edward
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2021
• Subjects: Benthos; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria <20 L; Coast and continental shelf; Growth/Morphology; Hydrolithon reinboldii; Indian Ocean; Laboratory experiment; Macroalgae; Plantae; Reproduction; FOS Medical biotechnology; Rhodophyta; Single species; Tropical; Event label; Type; Species; Registration number of species; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Identification; Treatment; Origin; Generation; Number; Diameter; Growth rate; Recruit size; Salinity; Temperature, water; pH; Alkalinity, total; 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; Indian; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.932839; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.932839

The future of coral reef ecosystems is under threat because vital reef-accreting species such as coralline algae are highly susceptible to ocean acidification. Although ocean acidification is known to reduce coralline algal growth rates, its direct effects on the development of coralline algal reproductive structures (conceptacles) is largely unknown. Furthermore, the long-term, multi-generational response of coralline algae to ocean acidification is extremely understudied. Here, we investigate how mean pH, pH variability and the pH regime experienced in their natural habitat affect coralline algal conceptacle abundance and size across six generations of exposure. We show that second-generation coralline algae exposed to ocean acidification treatments had conceptacle abundances 60% lower than those kept in present-day conditions, suggesting that conceptacle development is initially highly sensitive to ocean acidification. However, this negative effect of ocean acidification on conceptacle abundance disappears after three generations of exposure. Moreover, we show that this transgenerational acclimation of conceptacle development is not facilitated by a trade-off with reduced investment in growth, as higher conceptacle abundances are associated with crusts with faster growth rates. These results indicate that the potential reproductive output of coralline algae may be sustained under future ocean acidification. : 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 2021-06-21.