Publication Date:
2024-03-15
Description:
Experiments with coral fragments (i.e. nubbins) have shown that net calcification is depressed by elevated PCO2. Evaluating the implications of this finding requires scaling of results from nubbins to colonies, yet the experiments to codify this process have not been carried out. Building from our previous research demonstrating that net calcification of Pocillopora verrucosa (2–13 cm diameter) was unaffected by PCO2 (400 and 1000 µatm) and temperature (26.5 and 29.7°C), we sought generality to this outcome by testing how colony size modulates PCO2 and temperature sensitivity in a branching acroporid. Together, these taxa represent two of the dominant lineages of branching corals on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Two trials conducted over 2 years tested the hypothesis that the seasonal range in seawater temperature (26.5 and 29.2°C) and a future PCO2 (1062 µatm versus an ambient level of 461 µatm) affect net calcification of an ecologically relevant size range (5–20 cm diameter) of colonies of Acropora hyacinthus. As for P. verrucosa, the effects of temperature and PCO2 on net calcification (mg day−1) of A. verrucosa were not statistically detectable. These results support the generality of a null outcome on net calcification of exposing intact colonies of branching corals to environmental conditions contrasting seasonal variation in temperature and predicted future variation in PCO2. While there is a need to expand beyond an experimental culture relying on coral nubbins as tractable replicates, rigorously responding to this need poses substantial ethical and logistical challenges.
Keywords:
Acropora hyacinthus; Alkalinity, total; Alkalinity, total, standard error; Animalia; Aragonite saturation state; Aragonite saturation state, standard error; Area; Benthic animals; Benthos; Bicarbonate ion; Calcification/Dissolution; Calcification rate; Calcite saturation state; Calculated using seacarb; Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010); Carbon, inorganic, dissolved; Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard error; Carbonate ion; Carbonate system computation flag; Carbon dioxide; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Containers and aquaria (20-1000 L or 〈 1 m**2); Diameter; EXP; Experiment; Experiment duration; Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Growth/Morphology; Identification; Irradiance; Irradiance, standard error; Laboratory experiment; Moorea_north_shore; OA-ICC; Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre; Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air); Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air), standard error; pH; pH, standard error; Potentiometric; Potentiometric titration; Registration number of species; Replicates; Salinity; Salinity, standard error; Single species; Size; South Pacific; Species; Temperature; Temperature, water; Temperature, water, standard error; Treatment; Tropical; Type; Uniform resource locator/link to reference
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 1334 data points
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