Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification
Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://doaj.org/article/5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe 2023-06-11T04:15:36+02:00 Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification Violet E. Doucette Lucia M. Rodriguez Bravo Andrew H. Altieri Maggie D. Johnson 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://doaj.org/article/5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe EN eng The Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.220760 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe Royal Society Open Science, Vol 9, Iss 11 (2022) coral reefs competition photophysiology pH Porites Zoanthus Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 2023-04-23T00:35:37Z Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond to OA. We explored how two common Caribbean competitors, branching Porites and a colonial zoanthid (Zoanthus), respond to the factorial combination of OA and competition. In the laboratory, we exposed corals, zoanthids and interacting corals and zoanthids to ambient (8.01 ± 0.03) and OA (7.68 ± 0.07) conditions for 60 days. The OA treatment had no measured effect on zoanthids or coral calcification but decreased Porites maximum PSII efficiency. Conversely, the competitive interaction significantly decreased Porites calcification but had minimal-to-no countereffects on the zoanthid. Although this interaction was not exacerbated by the 60-day OA exposure, environmental changes that enhance zoanthid performance could add to the dominance of zoanthids over corals. The lack of effects of OA on coral calcification indicates that near-term competitive interactions may have more immediate consequences for some corals than future global change scenarios. Disparate consequences of competition have implications for community structure and should be accounted for when evaluating local coral reef trajectories. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Royal Society Open Science 9 11 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
coral reefs competition photophysiology pH Porites Zoanthus Science Q |
spellingShingle |
coral reefs competition photophysiology pH Porites Zoanthus Science Q Violet E. Doucette Lucia M. Rodriguez Bravo Andrew H. Altieri Maggie D. Johnson Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
topic_facet |
coral reefs competition photophysiology pH Porites Zoanthus Science Q |
description |
Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the persistence of reef-building corals and the habitat they provide. While species-specific effects of OA on marine organisms could have cascading effects on ecological interactions like competition, few studies have identified how benthic reef competitors respond to OA. We explored how two common Caribbean competitors, branching Porites and a colonial zoanthid (Zoanthus), respond to the factorial combination of OA and competition. In the laboratory, we exposed corals, zoanthids and interacting corals and zoanthids to ambient (8.01 ± 0.03) and OA (7.68 ± 0.07) conditions for 60 days. The OA treatment had no measured effect on zoanthids or coral calcification but decreased Porites maximum PSII efficiency. Conversely, the competitive interaction significantly decreased Porites calcification but had minimal-to-no countereffects on the zoanthid. Although this interaction was not exacerbated by the 60-day OA exposure, environmental changes that enhance zoanthid performance could add to the dominance of zoanthids over corals. The lack of effects of OA on coral calcification indicates that near-term competitive interactions may have more immediate consequences for some corals than future global change scenarios. Disparate consequences of competition have implications for community structure and should be accounted for when evaluating local coral reef trajectories. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Violet E. Doucette Lucia M. Rodriguez Bravo Andrew H. Altieri Maggie D. Johnson |
author_facet |
Violet E. Doucette Lucia M. Rodriguez Bravo Andrew H. Altieri Maggie D. Johnson |
author_sort |
Violet E. Doucette |
title |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_short |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_full |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_fullStr |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_full_unstemmed |
Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
title_sort |
negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://doaj.org/article/5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science, Vol 9, Iss 11 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220760 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.220760 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/5cf0dbef595e40a1ac369434c6c971fe |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
11 |
_version_ |
1768372529399857152 |