scholarly journals Pacific-wide contrast highlights resistance of reef calcifiers to ocean acidification

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1790) ◽  
pp. 20141339 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Comeau ◽  
R. C. Carpenter ◽  
Y Nojiri ◽  
H. M. Putnam ◽  
K. Sakai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Tropical Coral ◽  
Geographical Scale ◽  
Key Questions

Ocean acidification (OA) and its associated decline in calcium carbonate saturation states is one of the major threats that tropical coral reefs face this century. Previous studies of the effect of OA on coral reef calcifiers have described a wide variety of outcomes for studies using comparable partial pressure of CO 2 ( p CO 2 ) ranges, suggesting that key questions remain unresolved. One unresolved hypothesis posits that heterogeneity in the response of reef calcifiers to high p CO 2 is a result of regional-scale variation in the responses to OA. To test this hypothesis, we incubated two coral taxa ( Pocillopora damicornis and massive Porites ) and two calcified algae ( Porolithon onkodes and Halimeda macroloba ) under 400, 700 and 1000 μatm p CO 2 levels in experiments in Moorea (French Polynesia), Hawaii (USA) and Okinawa (Japan), where environmental conditions differ. Both corals and H. macroloba were insensitive to OA at all three locations, while the effects of OA on P. onkodes were location-specific. In Moorea and Hawaii, calcification of P. onkodes was depressed by high p CO 2 , but for specimens in Okinawa, there was no effect of OA. Using a study of large geographical scale, we show that resistance to OA of some reef species is a constitutive character expressed across the Pacific.

scholarly journals Ocean acidification accelerates dissolution of experimental coral reef communities

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Comeau ◽  
R. C. Carpenter ◽  
C. A. Lantz ◽  
P. J. Edmunds
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
High Pco2 ◽  
Back Reef ◽  
Percentage Cover ◽  
Tropical Coral ◽  
Reef Communities ◽  
Coral Reef Communities

Abstract. Ocean acidification (OA) poses a severe threat to tropical coral reefs, yet much of what is know about these effects comes from individual corals and algae incubated in isolation under high pCO2. Studies of similar effects on coral reef communities are scarce. To investigate the response of coral reef communities to OA, we used large outdoor flumes in which communities composed of calcified algae, corals, and sediment were combined to match the percentage cover of benthic communities in the shallow back reef of Moorea, French Polynesia. Reef communities in the flumes were exposed to ambient (~ 400 μatm) and high pCO2 (~ 1300 μatm) for 8 weeks, and calcification rates measured for the constructed communities including the sediments. Community calcification was reduced by 59% under high pCO2, with sediment dissolution explaining ~ 50% of this decrease; net calcification of corals and calcified algae remained positive but was reduced by 29% under elevated pCO2. These results show that, despite the capacity of coral reef calcifiers to maintain positive net accretion of calcium carbonate under OA conditions, reef communities might transition to net dissolution as pCO2 increases, particularly at night, due to enhanced sediment dissolution.

scholarly journals Ocean acidification accelerates dissolution of experimental coral reef communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 12323-12339 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Comeau ◽  
R. C. Carpenter ◽  
C. A. Lantz ◽  
P. J. Edmunds
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Benthic Communities ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
High Pco2 ◽  
Back Reef ◽  
Percentage Cover ◽  
Tropical Coral ◽  
Reef Communities ◽  
Coral Reef Communities

Abstract. Ocean acidification (OA) poses a severe threat to tropical coral reefs, yet much of what is know about these effects comes from individual corals and algae incubated in isolation under high pCO2. Studies of similar effects on coral reef communities are scarce. To investigate the response of coral reef communities to OA, we used large outdoor flumes in which communities composed of calcified algae, corals, and sediment were combined to match the percentage cover of benthic communities in the shallow back reef of Moorea, French Polynesia. Reef communities in the flumes were exposed to ambient (~400 μatm) and high pCO2 (~1300 μatm) for 8 weeks, and calcification rates measured for the constructed communities including the sediments. Community calcification was depressed 59% under high pCO2, with sediment dissolution explaining ~50% of this decrease; net calcification of corals and calcified algae remained positive, but was reduced 29% under elevated pCO2. These results show that despite the capacity of coral reef calcifiers to maintain positive net accretion of calcium carbonate under OA conditions, reef communities might switch to net dissolution as pCO2 increases, particularly at night, due to enhanced sediment dissolution.

Influence of some coral reef communities on the calcium carbonate budget of Tiahura reef (Moorea, French Polynesia)

1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Le Campion-Alsumard ◽  
J.-C. Romano ◽  
M. Peyrot-Clausade ◽  
J. Le Campion ◽  
R. Paul
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Carbonate Budget ◽  
Reef Communities ◽  
Coral Reef Communities

scholarly journals Natural in situ relationships suggest coral reef calcium carbonate production will decline with ocean acidification

2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 777-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily C. Shaw ◽  
Stuart R. Phinn ◽  
Bronte Tilbrook ◽  
Andy Steven
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Carbonate Production

scholarly journals Coral resistance to ocean acidification linked to increased calcium at the site of calcification

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1878) ◽  
pp. 20180564 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. DeCarlo ◽  
S. Comeau ◽  
C. E. Cornwall ◽  
M. T. McCulloch
Keyword(s):  
Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Ocean Acidification ◽  
Pocillopora Damicornis ◽  
Seawater Ph ◽  
Ph Conditions

Ocean acidification threatens the persistence of biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) production on coral reefs. However, some coral genera show resistance to declines in seawater pH, potentially achieved by modulating the chemistry of the fluid where calcification occurs. We use two novel geochemical techniques based on boron systematics and Raman spectroscopy, which together provide the first constraints on the sensitivity of coral calcifying fluid calcium concentrations ( ) to changing seawater pH. In response to simulated end-of-century pH conditions, Pocillopora damicornis increased to as much as 25% above that of seawater and maintained constant calcification rates. Conversely, Acropora youngei displayed less control over , and its calcification rates strongly declined at lower seawater pH. Although the role of in driving calcification has often been neglected, increasing may be a key mechanism enabling more resistant corals to cope with ocean acidification and continue to build CaCO 3 skeletons in a high-CO 2 world.

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