Data from: Low recruitment due to altered settlement substrata as primary constraint for coral communities under ocean acidification

• Main Authors: Fabricius, Katharina E., Noonan, Sam H.C., Abrego, David, Harrington, Lindsay, De'ath, Glenn, Noonan, Sam H. C.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2017
• Subjects: carbon dioxide; Reef resilience; coral reproduction; Crustose coralline algae; Scleractinia; Acropora tenuis; Scleractinian coral; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.327c2

The future of coral reefs under increasing CO2 depends on their capacity to recover from disturbances. To predict the recovery potential of coral communities that are fully acclimatized to elevated CO2, we compared the relative success of coral recruitment and later life stages at two volcanic CO2 seeps and adjacent control sites in Papua New Guinea. Our field experiments showed that the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on coral recruitment rates were up to an order of magnitude greater than the effects on the survival and growth of established corals. Settlement rates, recruit and juvenile densities were best predicted by the presence of crustose coralline algae, as opposed to the direct effects of seawater CO2. Offspring from high CO2 acclimatized parents had similarly impaired settlement rates as offspring from control parents. For most coral taxa, field data showed no evidence of cumulative and compounding detrimental effects of high CO2 on successive life stages, and three taxa showed improved adult performance at high CO2 that compensated for their low recruitment rates. Our data suggest that severely declining capacity for reefs to recover, due to altered settlement substrata and reduced coral recruitment, is likely to become a dominant mechanism of how OA will alter coral reefs. Carbonate chemistry of the two study reefs - means over sites Carbonate chemistry of the two study reefs - mean values per site at high CO2 at the CO2 seeps, and their adjacent control sites. a wq 2 reefs means over sites.csv Carbonate chemistry of the two study reefs - means over tiles Carbonate chemistry of the two study reefs - mean values for each of the settlement tiles. a wq 2 reefs means over tiles.csv Settlement choice experiments Choice of larvae of Acropora tenuis to settle on settlement substrata from either High-CO2 or Control sites. b1 choice expts14 final.csv Settlement no-choice experiments Settlement rates of Acropora tenuis larvae from parents originating from high CO2 or control sites. b2 no-choice expts ...