• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Community production modulates coral reef pH and the sensitivity of ecosystem calcification to ocean acidification

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Article (3.042Mb)
    Supporting Information (2.184Mb)
    Data Set S1 (54.58Kb)
    Date
    2017-01-31
    Author
    DeCarlo, Thomas M.  Concept link
    Cohen, Anne L.  Concept link
    Wong, George T. F.  Concept link
    Shiah, Fuh-Kwo  Concept link
    Lentz, Steven J.  Concept link
    Davis, Kristen A.  Concept link
    Shamberger, Kathryn E. F.  Concept link
    Lohmann, George P.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8865
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012326
    DOI
    10.1002/2016JC012326
    Keyword
     Coral reef; Ocean acidification; Calcification; Photosynthesis; Coral bleaching 
    Abstract
    Coral reefs are built of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) produced biogenically by a diversity of calcifying plants, animals, and microbes. As the ocean warms and acidifies, there is mounting concern that declining calcification rates could shift coral reef CaCO3 budgets from net accretion to net dissolution. We quantified net ecosystem calcification (NEC) and production (NEP) on Dongsha Atoll, northern South China Sea, over a 2 week period that included a transient bleaching event. Peak daytime pH on the wide, shallow reef flat during the nonbleaching period was ∼8.5, significantly elevated above that of the surrounding open ocean (∼8.0–8.1) as a consequence of daytime NEP (up to 112 mmol C m−2 h−1). Diurnal-averaged NEC was 390 ± 90 mmol CaCO3 m−2 d−1, higher than any other coral reef studied to date despite comparable calcifier cover (25%) and relatively high fleshy algal cover (19%). Coral bleaching linked to elevated temperatures significantly reduced daytime NEP by 29 mmol C m−2 h−1. pH on the reef flat declined by 0.2 units, causing a 40% reduction in NEC in the absence of pH changes in the surrounding open ocean. Our findings highlight the interactive relationship between carbonate chemistry of coral reef ecosystems and ecosystem production and calcification rates, which are in turn impacted by ocean warming. As open-ocean waters bathing coral reefs warm and acidify over the 21st century, the health and composition of reef benthic communities will play a major role in determining on-reef conditions that will in turn dictate the ecosystem response to climate change.
    Description
    Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 122 (2017): 745–761, doi:10.1002/2016JC012326.
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • Geology and Geophysics (G&G)
    Suggested Citation
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 122 (2017): 745–761
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      Calcification Rates and Biomass of 4 Coral Species, 2 Temperatures and 2 pCO2 Levels from Experiments at LTER site in Moorea, French Polynesia, 2011 (OA_Corals project) 

      Edmunds, Peter J. (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2016-04-11)
      This dataset contains area-normalized calcification (mg cm-2 d-1) and biomass normalized calcification (mg mg-1) for Pocillopora meandrina, massive Porites spp., Acropora pulchra and Millepora platyphylla, as a function ...
    • Thumbnail

      The impact of seawater saturation state and bicarbonate ion concentration on calcification by new recruits of two Atlantic corals 

      de Putron, Samantha J.; McCorkle, Daniel C.; Cohen, Anne L.; Dillon, A. B. (2010-11-05)
      Rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are changing the carbonate chemistry of the oceans, a process known as ocean acidification (OA). Absorption of this CO2 by the surface oceans is increasing the amount of total ...
    • Thumbnail

      Variations in coral reef net community calcification and aragonite saturation state on local and global scales 

      Bernstein, Whitney N. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2013-09)
      Predicting the response of net community calcification (NCC) to ocean acidification (OA) and declining aragonite saturation state (Ωa) requires a thorough understanding of controls on NCC. The diurnal control of light ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo