Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change
Ocean warming and acidification pose serious threats to cold-water corals (CWCs) and the surrounding habitat. Yet, little is known about the role of natural short-term and seasonal environmental variability, which could be pivotal to determine the resilience of CWCs in a changing environment. Here,...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e38481f455f34c61b00a930376154a81 2023-05-15T17:08:46+02:00 Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change Katriina Juva Tina Kutti Melissa Chierici Wolf-Christian Dullo Sascha Flögel 2021-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2030033 https://doaj.org/article/e38481f455f34c61b00a930376154a81 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/2/3/33 https://doaj.org/toc/2673-1924 doi:10.3390/oceans2030033 2673-1924 https://doaj.org/article/e38481f455f34c61b00a930376154a81 Oceans, Vol 2, Iss 33, Pp 583-610 (2021) ocean acidification ocean warming carbonate chemistry dynamics biogeochemical dynamics in situ monitoring natural variability of environmental conditions Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2030033 2022-12-31T13:23:33Z Ocean warming and acidification pose serious threats to cold-water corals (CWCs) and the surrounding habitat. Yet, little is known about the role of natural short-term and seasonal environmental variability, which could be pivotal to determine the resilience of CWCs in a changing environment. Here, we provide continuous observational data of the hydrodynamic regime (recorded using two benthic landers) and point measurements of the carbonate and nutrient systems from five Lophelia pertusa reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, southwestern Norway, from 2016 to 2017. In this fjord setting, we found that over a tidal (<24 h) cycle during winter storms, the variability of measured parameters at CWC depths was comparable to the intra-annual variability, demonstrating that single point measurements are not sufficient for documenting (and monitoring) the biogeochemical conditions at CWC sites. Due to seasonal and diurnal forcing, parts of the reefs experienced temperatures up to 4 °C warmer (i.e., >12 °C) than the mean conditions and high C T concentrations of 20 µmol kg −1 over the suggested threshold for healthy CWC reefs (i.e., >2170 µmol kg −1 ). Combined with hindcast measurements, our findings indicate that these shallow fjord reefs may act as an early hotspot for ocean warming and acidification. We predict that corals in Langenuen will face seasonally high temperatures (>18 °C) and hypoxic and corrosive conditions within this century. Therefore, these fjord coral communities could forewarn us of the coming consequences of climate change on CWC diversity and function. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lophelia pertusa Ocean acidification Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Norway Oceans 2 3 583 610 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean acidification ocean warming carbonate chemistry dynamics biogeochemical dynamics in situ monitoring natural variability of environmental conditions Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
ocean acidification ocean warming carbonate chemistry dynamics biogeochemical dynamics in situ monitoring natural variability of environmental conditions Oceanography GC1-1581 Katriina Juva Tina Kutti Melissa Chierici Wolf-Christian Dullo Sascha Flögel Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
topic_facet |
ocean acidification ocean warming carbonate chemistry dynamics biogeochemical dynamics in situ monitoring natural variability of environmental conditions Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
Ocean warming and acidification pose serious threats to cold-water corals (CWCs) and the surrounding habitat. Yet, little is known about the role of natural short-term and seasonal environmental variability, which could be pivotal to determine the resilience of CWCs in a changing environment. Here, we provide continuous observational data of the hydrodynamic regime (recorded using two benthic landers) and point measurements of the carbonate and nutrient systems from five Lophelia pertusa reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, southwestern Norway, from 2016 to 2017. In this fjord setting, we found that over a tidal (<24 h) cycle during winter storms, the variability of measured parameters at CWC depths was comparable to the intra-annual variability, demonstrating that single point measurements are not sufficient for documenting (and monitoring) the biogeochemical conditions at CWC sites. Due to seasonal and diurnal forcing, parts of the reefs experienced temperatures up to 4 °C warmer (i.e., >12 °C) than the mean conditions and high C T concentrations of 20 µmol kg −1 over the suggested threshold for healthy CWC reefs (i.e., >2170 µmol kg −1 ). Combined with hindcast measurements, our findings indicate that these shallow fjord reefs may act as an early hotspot for ocean warming and acidification. We predict that corals in Langenuen will face seasonally high temperatures (>18 °C) and hypoxic and corrosive conditions within this century. Therefore, these fjord coral communities could forewarn us of the coming consequences of climate change on CWC diversity and function. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Katriina Juva Tina Kutti Melissa Chierici Wolf-Christian Dullo Sascha Flögel |
author_facet |
Katriina Juva Tina Kutti Melissa Chierici Wolf-Christian Dullo Sascha Flögel |
author_sort |
Katriina Juva |
title |
Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
title_short |
Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
title_full |
Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
title_fullStr |
Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Langenuen Fjord, Southwestern Norway—A Window into Future Environmental Change |
title_sort |
cold-water coral reefs in the langenuen fjord, southwestern norway—a window into future environmental change |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2030033 https://doaj.org/article/e38481f455f34c61b00a930376154a81 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Lophelia pertusa Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Lophelia pertusa Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Oceans, Vol 2, Iss 33, Pp 583-610 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/2/3/33 https://doaj.org/toc/2673-1924 doi:10.3390/oceans2030033 2673-1924 https://doaj.org/article/e38481f455f34c61b00a930376154a81 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans2030033 |
container_title |
Oceans |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
583 |
op_container_end_page |
610 |
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1766064633194479616 |