Coral calcifying fluid chemistry at CO2 seeps ...

• Main Authors: Comeau, Steeve, Cornwall, Christopher Edward, Shlesinger, T, Hoogenboom, M O, Mana, R, McCulloch, Malcolm T, Rodolfo-Metalpa, Riccardo
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2022
• Subjects: Acid-base regulation; Acropora cytherea; Acropora millepora; Acropora samoensis; Acropora sp.; Acropora tenuis; Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Cnidaria; CO2 vent; Coast and continental shelf; Echinopora lamellosa; Favites halicora; Favites pentagona; Field observation; Galaxea fascicularis; Merulina ampliata; Montipora foliosa; Pachyseris speciosa; Pocillopora damicornis; Pocillopora sp.; Pocillopora verrucosa; Porites annae; Porites lutea; Porites rus; Psammocora sp.; Seriatopora caliendum; Single species; South Pacific; Tropical; Turbinaria reniformis; Type; Species; Registration number of species; Uniform resource locator/link to reference; Site; Treatment; δ11B; Boron/Calcium ratio; Calcifying fluid, pH; Calcifying fluid, dissolved inorganic carbon; Salinity; pH; Alkalinity, total; Temperature, water; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide water at sea surface temperature wet air; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Aragonite saturation state; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.939651; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.939651

Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems with immense ecological, economic and cultural value, but globally their carbonate-based skeletal construction is threatened by ocean acidification (OA). Identifying coral species that have specialised mechanisms to maintain high rates of calcification in the face of declining seawater pH is of paramount importance in predicting future species composition, and growth of coral reefs. Here, we studied multiple coral species from two distinct volcanic CO2 seeps in Papua New Guinea to assess their capacity to control their calcifying fluid (CF) chemistry. Several coral species living under conditions of low mean seawater pH, but with either low or high variability in seawater pH, were examined and compared with those living in 'normal' (non-seep) ambient seawater pH. We show that when mean seawater pH is low but highly variable, corals have a greater ability to maintain constant pHcf in their CF, but this characteristic was not linked with changes in abundance. Within less ... : 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 2021-12-17. ...