Seawater carbonate chemistry and growth rates for coral fragments from the species Porites compressa and Montipora capitata

• Main Authors: Barnhill, Kelsey Archer, Jogee, Nadia, Brown, Colleen, McGowan, Ashley, Rodgers, Ku'ulei, Bryceson, Ian, Bahr, Keisha
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2020
• Subjects: Accretion rate; Alkalinity; total; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Biological sample; BIOS; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon; inorganic; dissolved; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Colony number/ID; Coral; Event label; Field experiment; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Growth/Morphology; Hawaii islands; Identification; KaneoheBay_1; KaneoheBay_2; LATITUDE; Linear extension; LONGITUDE; Montipora capitata; North Pacific; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); pH; Porites compressa; Potentiometric titration; Registration number of species; Salinity; Single species; Site; Species; Spectrophotometric; Temperature; water; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.930559; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.930559

Coral reefs are susceptible to climate change, anthropogenic influence, and environmental stressors. However, corals in Kāneʻohe Bay, Hawaiʻi have repeatedly shown resilience and acclimatization to anthropogenically-induced rising temperatures and increased frequencies of bleaching events. Variations in coral and algae cover at two sites-just 600 m apart-at Malaukaʻa fringing reef suggest genetic or environmental differences in coral resilience between sites. A reciprocal transplant experiment was conducted to determine if calcification (linear extension and dry skeletal weight) for dominant reef-building species, Montipora capitata and Porites compressa, varied between the two sites and whether or not parent colony or environmental factors were responsible for the differences. Despite the two sites representing distinct environmental conditions with significant differences between temperature, salinity, and aragonite saturation, M. capitata growth rates remained the same between sites and treatments. However, dry skeletal weight increases in P. compressa were significantly different between sites, but not across treatments, with linear mixed effects model results suggesting heterogeneity driven by environmental differences between sites and the parent colonies. These results provide evidence of resilience and acclimatization for M. capitata and P. compressa. Variability of resilience may be driven by local adaptations at a small, reef-level scale for P. compressa in Kāneʻohe Bay.