Seawater carbonate chemistry and competition between the scleractinian corals Galaxea fascicularis and Acropora hyacinthus

• Main Authors: Evensen, Nicolas R, Edmunds, Peter J
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2018
• Subjects: Acropora hyacinthus; Alkalinity; total; standard error; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Area; Behaviour; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; 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; Cnidaria; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or < 1 m**2); Experiment duration; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Galaxea fascicularis; Growth/Morphology; Identification; Laboratory experiment; Laboratory strains; Not applicable; Number; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Registration number of species; Salinity; Species; Species interaction; Temperature; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.887706; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.887706

Ocean acidification is expected to affect coral reefs in multiple ways, in part, by depressing the calcification of scleractinian corals. To evaluate how coral communities will respond to ocean acidification, research into the effects on ecological processes determining community structure is now needed. The present study focused on corals utilizing soft tissues (i.e., mesenterial filaments) as agonistic mechanism, and evaluated their ability to compete for space under ocean acidification. Using aquarium-reared specimens in Monaco, single polyps of Galaxea fascicularis were paired with branch tips of Acropora hyacinthus to stimulate competitive interactions, which were evaluated through the production and use of mesenterial filaments in causing tissue damage under ambient (600 µatm) and elevated pCO2 (1200 µatm). At 1200 µatm pCO2, and when paired with A. hyacinthus, the extrusion of mesenterial filaments from G. fascicularis occurred 2 days earlier than under ambient pCO2, although ultimately the mesenterial filaments caused the same amount of tissue necrosis on A. hyacinthus under both pCO2 regimes after 7 days. This outcome supports the hypothesis that some kinds of competitive mechanisms utilized by scleractinian corals (i.e., mesenterial filaments) will be unaffected by short exposure to pCO2 as high as 1200 ?atm.