Reduced calcification and lack of acclimatization by coral colonies growing in areas of persistent natural acidification

As the surface ocean equilibrates with rising atmospheric CO2, the pH of surface seawater is decreasing with potentially negative impacts on coral calcification. A critical question is whether corals will be able to adapt or acclimate to these changes in seawater chemistry. We use high precision CT...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Crook, Elizabeth Derse, Cohen, Anne L, Rebolledo-Vieyra, Mario, Hernandez, Laura, Paytan, Adina
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2013
Subjects:
Alkalinity
total
standard deviation
Animalia
Aragonite saturation state
Benthic animals
Benthos
Bicarbonate ion
Calcification/Dissolution
Calcification rate
ratio
standard error
Calcite saturation state
Calculated using CO2SYS
Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
Carbon
inorganic
dissolved
Carbonate ion
Carbonate system computation flag
Carbon dioxide
Cnidaria
Density
Field observation
Figure
Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air)
Growth/Morphology
Linear extension
North Atlantic
OA-ICC
Ocean acidification
Online Access:https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.831619
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.831619
Description
Summary:As the surface ocean equilibrates with rising atmospheric CO2, the pH of surface seawater is decreasing with potentially negative impacts on coral calcification. A critical question is whether corals will be able to adapt or acclimate to these changes in seawater chemistry. We use high precision CT scanning of skeletal cores of Porites astreoides, an important Caribbean reef-building coral, to show that calcification rates decrease significantly along a natural gradient in pH and aragonite saturation (Omega arag). This decrease is accompanied by an increase in skeletal erosion and predation by boring organisms. The degree of sensitivity to reduced Oarag measured on our field corals is consistent with that exhibited by the same species in laboratory CO2 manipulation experiments. We conclude that the Porites corals at our field site were not able to acclimatize enough to prevent the impacts of local ocean acidification on their skeletal growth and development, despite spending their entire lifespan in low pH, low Omega arag seawater.

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