Coral calcification in a changing World and the interactive dynamics of pH and DIC upregulation
Coral calcification is dependent on the mutualistic partnership between endosymbiotic zooxanthellae and the coral host. Here, using newly developed geochemical proxies (δ B and B/Ca), we show that Porites corals from natural reef environments exhibit a close (r ∼0.9) antithetic relationship between...
Saved in:
Published in | Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 15686 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Nature Publishing Group
30.05.2017
Nature Portfolio |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Coral calcification is dependent on the mutualistic partnership between endosymbiotic zooxanthellae and the coral host. Here, using newly developed geochemical proxies (δ
B and B/Ca), we show that Porites corals from natural reef environments exhibit a close (r
∼0.9) antithetic relationship between dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and pH of the corals' calcifying fluid (cf). The highest DIC
(∼ × 3.2 seawater) is found during summer, consistent with thermal/light enhancement of metabolically (zooxanthellae) derived carbon, while the highest pH
(∼8.5) occurs in winter during periods of low DIC
(∼ × 2 seawater). These opposing changes in DIC
and pH
are shown to maintain oversaturated but stable levels of carbonate saturation (Ω
∼ × 5 seawater), the key parameter controlling coral calcification. These findings are in marked contrast to artificial experiments and show that pH
upregulation occurs largely independent of changes in seawater carbonate chemistry, and hence ocean acidification, but is highly vulnerable to thermally induced stress from global warming. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms15686 |