Abstract
Ocean acidification is predicted to impact ecosystems reliant on calcifying organisms, potentially reducing the socioeconomic benefits these habitats provide. Here we investigate the acclimation potential of stony corals living along a pH gradient caused by a Mediterranean CO2 vent that serves as a natural long-term experimental setting. We show that in response to reduced skeletal mineralization at lower pH, corals increase their skeletal macroporosity (features >10 μm) in order to maintain constant linear extension rate, an important criterion for reproductive output. At the nanoscale, the coral skeleton's structural features are not altered. However, higher skeletal porosity, and reduced bulk density and stiffness may contribute to reduce population density and increase damage susceptibility under low pH conditions. Based on these observations, the almost universally employed measure of coral biomineralization, the rate of linear extension, might not be a reliable metric for assessing coral health and resilience in a warming and acidifying ocean.
Highlights
Ocean acidification is predicted to impact ecosystems reliant on calcifying organisms, potentially reducing the socioeconomic benefits these habitats provide
The underwater CO2 emissions generate a stable pH gradient with levels matching several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sea surface pH predictions associated with different atmospheric CO2 emission scenarios for the end of the century[1]
The present study investigates the effects of environmental pH on skeletal structures and growth at multiple length scales in the solitary scleractinian coral Balanophyllia europaea living along the pH gradient
Summary
Ocean acidification is predicted to impact ecosystems reliant on calcifying organisms, potentially reducing the socioeconomic benefits these habitats provide. Combined results of SEM, mCT, AFM and TD-NMR skeletal analyses of corals growing at each study site revealed the detailed, multiscale structural organization of the skeletons of B. europaea (Fig. 2, Supplementary Figs 1–3).
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