Effects of diurnally oscillating pCO(2) on the calcification and survival of coral recruits

Aaron M. Dufault, Vivian R. Cumbo, Tung Yung Fan, Peter J. Edmunds

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105 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Manipulative studies have demonstrated that ocean acidification (OA) is a threat to coral reefs, yet no experiments have employed diurnal variations in pCO2 that are ecologically relevant to many shallow reefs. Two experiments were conducted to test the response of coral recruits (less than 6 days old) to diurnally oscillating pCO2; one exposing recruits for 3 days to ambient (440 μatm), high (663 μatm) and diurnally oscillating pCO2 on a natural phase (420-596 μatm), and another exposing recruits for 6 days to ambient (456 μatm), high (837 μatm) and diurnally oscillating pCO2 on either a natural or a reverse phase (448-845 μatm). In experiment I, recruits exposed to natural-phased diurnally oscillating pCO2 grew 6-19% larger than those in ambient or high pCO2. In experiment II, recruits in both high and natural-phased diurnally oscillating pCO2 grew 16 per cent larger than those at ambient pCO2, and this was accompanied by 13-18% higher survivorship; the stimulatory effect on growth of oscillatory pCO2 was diminished by administering high pCO2 during the day (i.e. reverse-phased). These results demonstrate that coral recruits can benefit from ecologically relevant fluctuations in pCO2 and we hypothesize that the mechanism underlying this response is highly pCO2-mediated, night-time storage of dissolved inorganic carbon that fuels daytime calcification.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2951-2958
Number of pages8
JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume279
Issue number1740
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Aug 2012
Externally publishedYes

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