Calcification response of reef corals to seasonal upwelling in the northern Arabian Sea (Masirah Island, Oman)

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: P. M. Spreter, M. Reuter, R. Mertz-Kraus, O. Taylor, T. C. Brachert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: Ecology; QH540-549.5; Life; QH501-531; Geology; QE1-996.5; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3559-2022; https://doaj.org/article/6a214f1829784f04bb180a8b6ec98432

Tropical shallow-water reefs are the most diverse ecosystems in the ocean. Their persistence rests upon adequate calcification rates of the reef building biota, such as reef corals. Coral calcification is favoured in oligotrophic environments with high seawater saturation states of aragonite ( Ω sw ), which leads to an increased vulnerability to anthropogenic ocean acidification and eutrophication. Here we present Porites calcification records from the northern Arabian Sea upwelling zone and investigate the coral calcification response to low Ω sw and high nutrient concentrations due to seasonal upwelling. The calcification rate was determined from the product of skeletal extension rate and bulk density. Skeletal <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow class="chem"><mi mathvariant="normal">Ba</mi><mo>/</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">Ca</mi></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="36pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="6ce6b2dd58dbf3d0c1decb3ec17e2c09"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="bg-19-3559-2022-ie00001.svg" width="36pt" height="14pt" src="bg-19-3559-2022-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg> and <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow class="chem"><mi mathvariant="normal">Li</mi><mo>/</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">Mg</mi></mrow></math> <svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="32pt" height="14pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="9ee8ccc7e54f35210b3047764e01897b"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="bg-19-3559-2022-ie00002.svg" width="32pt" height="14pt" src="bg-19-3559-2022-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg> proxy data were used to identify skeletal portions that calcified during upwelling ...