Fast coral reef calcifiers are more sensitive to ocean acidification in short-term laboratory incubations

• Main Authors: Comeau, Steeve, Edmunds, Peter J, Spindel, N B, Carpenter, Robert C
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2014
• Subjects: Acropora pulchra; Alkalinity; total; Amphiroa fragilissima; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Buoyant weighing technique (Davies; 1989); Calcification/Dissolution; Calcification rate of calcium carbonate; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Chlorophyta; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); Date/time end; Date/time start; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Halimeda macroloba; Halimeda minima; Hydrolithon reinboldii; Laboratory experiment; Lithophyllum flavescens; Lithophyllum kotschyanum; Macroalgae; Neogoniolithon frutescens; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Pavona cactus; pH; Plantae; Pocillopora damicornis; Pocillopora verrucosa; Porites irregularis; Porites rus; Porites sp.; Porolithon onkodes; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Rus’; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.832584; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.832584

To identify the properties of taxa sensitive and resistant to ocean acidification (OA), we tested the hypothesis that coral reef calcifiers differ in their sensitivity to OA as predictable outcomes of functional group alliances determined by conspicuous traits. We contrasted functional groups of eight corals and eight calcifying algae defined by morphology in corals and algae, skeletal structure in corals, spatial location of calcification in algae, and growth rate in corals and algae. The responses of calcification to OA were unrelated to morphology and skeletal structure in corals; they were, however, affected by growth rate in corals and algae (fast calcifiers were more sensitive than slow calcifiers), and by the site of calcification and morphology in algae. Species assemblages characterized by fast growth, and for algae, also cell-wall calcification, are likely to be ecological losers in the future ocean. This shift in relative success will affect the relative and absolute species abundances as well as the goods and services provided by coral reefs.