Seawater carbonate chemistry and body size, respiration and photosynthesis of the branching coral Pocillopora verrucosa

• Main Authors: Edmunds, Peter J, Burgess, Scott C
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2016
• Subjects: Alkalinity; total; standard error; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Area; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Class; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); Diameter; Experiment; Experiment duration; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Gross photosynthesis rate; oxygen; Growth/Morphology; Growth rate per area; Growth rate per colony; Identification; Irradiance; Laboratory experiment; Mass; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.875880; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.875880

Body size has large effects on organism physiology, but these effects remain poorly understood in modular animals with complex morphologies. Using two trials of a 24 day experiment conducted in 2014 and 2015, we tested the hypothesis that colony size of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa affects the response of calcification, aerobic respiration and gross photosynthesis to temperature (26.5 and 29.7°C) and pCO2 (40 and 1000 µatm). Large corals calcified more than small corals, but at a slower size-specific rate; area-normalized calcification declined with size. Whole-colony and area-normalized calcification were unaffected by temperature, pCO2, or the interaction between the two. Whole-colony respiration increased with colony size, but the slopes of these relationships differed between treatments. Area-normalized gross photosynthesis declined with colony size, but whole-colony photosynthesis was unaffected by pCO2, and showed a weak response to temperature. When scaled up to predict the response of large corals, area-normalized metrics of physiological performance measured using small corals provide inaccurate estimates of the physiological performance of large colonies. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of colony size in modulating the response of branching corals to elevated temperature and high pCO2.