Negative effects of a zoanthid competitor limit coral calcification more than ocean acidification

• Published in: Royal Society Open Science
• Main Authors: Doucette, Violet E., Rodriguez Bravo, Lucia M., Altieri, Andrew H., Johnson, Maggie D.
• Other Authors: Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division, Marine Science Program, Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama, Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, Tenenbaum Marine Observatories Network, Smithsonian Institution, Edgewater, MD, USA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Royal Society 2022
• Subjects: pH; Competition; Porites; Photophysiology; Coral Reefs; Zoanthus; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/685966; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220760

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. This research was supported by postdoctoral awards to M.D.J. from STRI and the Smithsonian Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO), an STRI internship award to L.R.B., STRI funds to A.A., and an internship by V.D. through Northeastern University's Three Seas Program. This is contribution 118 of the Smithsonian's Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network. We thank Rachel Collin, Plinio Góndola, and the staff at the Bocas del Toro Research Station for logistical support; N. Arroyo, M. Hynes and W. Wied for laboratory assistance; S. Murphy, A. Carreiro and T. Mannes for assistance with image analyses.