Seawater carbonate chemistry, physiology and skeletal mineralogy of coralline alga Corallina elongata in a laboratory experiment

• Main Authors: Egilsdottir, Hronn, Noisette, Fanny, Noël, Laure M L J, Ólafsson, Jón, Martin, Sophie
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2013
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; standard error; Alkalinity anomaly technique (Smith and Key; 1975); Aragonite saturation state; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Bottles or small containers/Aquaria (<20 L); Calcification/Dissolution; Calcification rate of calcium carbonate; 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; flux; Chlorophyll a; Coast and continental shelf; Corallina elongata; Dry mass; EXP; Experiment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gross photosynthesis rate; oxygen; Identification; Irradiance; Laboratory experiment; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.831938; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.831938

Marine organisms inhabiting environments where pCO2/pH varies naturally are suggested to be relatively resilient to future ocean acidification. To test this hypothesis, the effect of elevated pCO2 was investigated in the articulated coralline red alga Corallina elongata from an intertidal rock pool on the north coast of Brittany (France), where pCO2 naturally varied daily between 70 and 1000 µatm. Metabolism was measured on algae in the laboratory after they had been grown for 3 weeks at pCO2 concentrations of 380, 550, 750 and 1000 µatm. Net and gross primary production, respiration and calcification rates were assessed by measurements of oxygen and total alkalinity fluxes using incubation chambers in the light and dark. Calcite mol % Mg/Ca (mMg/Ca) was analysed in the tips, branches and basal parts of the fronds, as well as in new skeletal structures produced by the algae in the different pCO2 treatments. Respiration, gross primary production and calcification in light and dark were not significantly affected by increased pCO2. Algae grown under elevated pCO2 (550, 750 and 1000 µatm) formed fewer new structures and produced calcite with a lower mMg/Ca ratio relative to those grown under 380 µatm. This study supports the assumption that C. elongata from a tidal pool, where pCO2 fluctuates over diel and seasonal cycles, is relatively robust to elevated pCO2 compared to other recently investigated coralline algae.