Seawater carbonate chemistry, survival, metamorphosis and respiration rate of coral Acropora digitifera during experiments, 2011

• Main Authors: Nakamura, Masoko, Ohki, Shun, Suzuki, Atsushi, Sakai, Kazuhiko
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2011
• Subjects: Acropora digitifera; Alkalinity; total; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Bicarbonate ion; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (<20 L); Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Development; Digital thermometer (SK-250WP; Sato; Tokyo; Japan); EPOCA; EUR-OCEANS; European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis; European Project on Ocean Acidification; Experimental treatment; Experiment day; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Laboratory experiment; Measured; Metamorphosis rate; Mortality/Survival; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Optical O2-measuring system (Fibox3; PreSens); Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pelagos; pH; standard deviation; pH electrode (Micro-pH; Aquabase; Kanagawa; Respiration; Salinity; see reference(s); Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.771296; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.771296

Ocean acidification may negatively impact the early life stages of some marine invertebrates including corals. Although reduced growth of juvenile corals in acidified seawater has been reported, coral larvae have been reported to demonstrate some level of tolerance to reduced pH. We hypothesize that the observed tolerance of coral larvae to low pH may be partly explained by reduced metabolic rates in acidified seawater because both calcifying and non-calcifying marine invertebrates could show metabolic depression under reduced pH in order to enhance their survival. In this study, after 3-d and 7-d exposure to three different pH levels (8.0, 7.6, and 7.3), we found that the oxygen consumption of Acropora digitifera larvae tended to be suppressed with reduced pH, although a statistically significant difference was not observed between pH conditions. Larval metamorphosis was also observed, confirming that successful recruitment is impaired when metamorphosis is disrupted, despite larval survival. Results also showed that the metamorphosis rate significantly decreased under acidified seawater conditions after both short (2 h) and long (7 d) term exposure. These results imply that acidified seawater impacts larval physiology, suggesting that suppressed metabolism and metamorphosis may alter the dispersal potential of larvae and subsequently reduce the resilience of coral communities in the near future as the ocean pH decreases.