References

Biogeosciences

1726-4189

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/bg-7-289-2010

Response of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa to mid- and long-term exposure to pCO2 and temperature levels projected for the year 2100 AD

Rodolfo-Metalpa

¹ Martin

² Ferrier-Pagès

³ Gattuso

J.-P.

² ⁴

International Atomic Energy Agency-Marine Environment Laboratories, 4 Quai Antoine Ier, 98000, Principality of Monaco

INSU-CNRS, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, B.P. 28, 06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex, France

Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Principality of Monaco

UPMC University of Paris 06, Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche, 06230 Villefranche-sur-mer, France

21 01 2010

7 1 289 300

2010

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/7/289/2010/bg-7-289-2010.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/7/289/2010/bg-7-289-2010.pdf

Atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) is expected to increase to 700 μatm or more by the end of the present century. Anthropogenic CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, leading to decreases in pH and the CaCO3 saturation state (Ω) of the seawater. Elevated pCO2 was shown to drastically decrease calcification rates in tropical zooxanthellate corals. Here we show, using the Mediterranean zooxanthellate coral Cladocora caespitosa, that an increase in pCO2, in the range predicted for 2100, does not reduce its calcification rate. Therefore, the conventional belief that calcification rates will be affected by ocean acidification may not be widespread in temperate corals. Seasonal change in temperature is the predominant factor controlling photosynthesis, respiration, calcification and symbiont density. An increase in pCO2, alone or in combination with elevated temperature, had no significant effect on photosynthesis, photosynthetic efficiency and calcification. The lack of sensitivity C. caespitosa to elevated pCO2 might be due to its slow growth rates, which seem to be more dependent on temperature than on the saturation state of calcium carbonate in the range projected for the end of the century.

References 1

Anthony, K. R. N., Kline, D. I., Diaz-Pulido, G., Dove, S., and Hoegh-Guldberg, O.: Ocean acidification causes bleaching and productivity loss in coral reef builders, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 105, 17442–17446, 2008.

Brown, B. E.: Coral bleaching: causes and consequences, Coral Reefs, 16, 129–138, 1997.

Clausen, C. D. and Roth, A. A.: Effect of temperature adaptation on calcification rate in the hermatypic coral Pocillopora damicornis, Mar. Biol., 33, 93–100, 1975.

Davies, P. S.: Short-term growth measurements of corals using an accurate buoyant weighing technique, Mar. Biol., 101, 389–395, 1989.

DOE: Handbook of methods for the analysis of the various parameters of the carbon dioxide system in sea water, edited by: Dickson, A. G. and Goyet, C., ORNL/CDIAC-74, 1994.

Fine, M. and Tchernov, D.: Scleractinian coral species survive and recover from decalcification, Science, 315, p. 1811, 2007.

Gattuso, J.-P., Allemand, D., and Frankignoulle, M.: Photosynthesis and calcification at cellular, organismal and community levels in coral reefs: a review on interactions and control by carbonate chemistry, Am. Zool., 39, 160–183, 1999.

Gattuso, J.-P., Frankignoulle, M., Bourge, I., Romaine, S., and Buddemeier, R. W.: Effect of calcium carbonate saturation of seawater on coral calcification, Global Planet. Change, 18, 37–46, 1998.

Gattuso, J.-P. and Lavigne, H.: Technical Note: Approaches and software tools to investigate the impact of ocean acidification, Biogeosciences, 6, 2121–2133, 2009.

Gooding, R. A., Harley, C. D. G., and Tang, E.: Elevated water temperature and carbon dioxide concentration increase the growth of a keystone echinoderm, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 106, 9316–9321, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811143106, 2009.

Hall-Spencer, J. M., Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Martin, S., Ransome, E., Fine, M., Turner, S. M., Rowley, S. J., Tedesco, D., and Buia, M. C.: Volcanic carbon dioxide vents reveal ecosystem effects of ocean acidification, Nature, 454, 96–99, 2008.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Mumby, O. J., Hooten, A. J., Steneck, R. S., Greenfield, P., Gomez, E., Harvell, C. D., Sale, P. F., Edwards, A. J., Caldeira, K., Knowlton, N., Eakin, C. M., Iglesias-Prieto, R., Muthiga, N., Bradbury, R. H., Dubi, A., and Hatziolos, M. E.: Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification, Science, 318, 1737–1742, 2007.

Howe, S. A. and Marshall, A. T.: Temperature effects on calcification rate and skeletal deposition in the temperate coral, Plesiastrea versipora (Lamarck), J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 275, 63–81, 2002.

Hurlbert S. H.: Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments, Ecol. Monogr., 54, 187–211, 1984.

Iglesias-Rodriguez, M. D., Halloran, P. R., Rickaby, R. E. M., Hall, I. R., Colmenero-Hildago, E., Gittins, J. R., Green, D. R., Tyrrel, T., Gibbs, S. J., von Dassow, P., Armbrust, K. P., and Boessenkool, K. P.: Phytoplankton calcification in a high-CO2 world, Science, 320, 336–340, 2008.

IPCC: Climate change 2007: the physical sciences basis. Summary for policymakers. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, online available at: <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf">http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf</a>, 2007.

Jacques, T. G., Marshall, N., and Pilson, M. E. Q.: Experimental ecology of the temperate scleractinian coral Astrangia danae: II. Effect of temperature, light intensity and symbiosis with zooxanthellae on metabolic rate and calcification, Mar. Biol., 76, 135–148, 1983.

Jeffrey, S. W. and Humphrey, G. F.: New spectrophotometric equations for determining chlorophylls a, b, c1 and c2 in higher plants, algae and natural phytoplankton, Biochem. Physiol. Pflanz., 167, 191–194, 1975.

Jokiel, P. L., Rodgers, K. S., Kuffner, I. B., Andersson, A. J., Cox, E. F., and Mackenzie, F. T.: Ocean acidification and calcifying reef organisms: a mesocosm investigation, Coral Reefs, 27, 473–483, 2008.

Jury, C. P., Whitehead, R. F., and Szmant, A. M.: Effects of variations in carbonate chemistry on the calcification rates of Madracis mirabilis (Duchassaing 1861): bicarbonate concentrations best predict calcification rates, Glob. Change Biol., https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02057.x, in press, 2010.

Kleypas, J. A., Buddemeier, R. W., Archer, D., Gattuso, J.-P., Langdon, C., and Opdyke, B. N.: Geochemical consequences of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on coral reefs, Science, 284, 118–120, 1999.

Kleypas, J. A., Feely, R. A., Fabry, V. J., et al.: Impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs and other marine calcifiers: A case guide for future research, report of a workshop held 18-20 April 2005, St. Petersburg, FL, sponsored by NSF, NOAQA, and US Geological Survey, 88 pp., 2006.

Langdon, C. and Atkinson, M. J.: Effect of elevated pCO2 on photosynthesis and calcification of corals and interactions with seasonal change in temperature, irradiance and nutrient enrichment, J. Geophys. Res. C, 110, 1–54, 2005.

Langdon, C., Broecker, W. S., Hammond, D. E., Glenn, E., Fitzsimmons, K., Nelson, S. G., Peng, T.-H., Hajdas, I., and Bonani, G.: Effects of elevated CO2 on the community metabolism of an experimental coral reef, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 17, 1011, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GB001941, 2003.

Marubini, F., Ferrier-Pagès, C., Furla, P., and Allemand, D.: Coral calcification responds to seawater acidification: a working hypothesis towards a physiological mechanism, Coral Reefs 27, 491–499, 2008.

Marubini, F. and Thake, B.: Bicarbonate addition promotes coral growth, Limnol. Oceanogr., 44, 716–720, 1999.

McNeil, B. I. and Matear, R. J.: Climate change feedbacks on future oceanic acidification, Tellus, 59B, 191–198, 2007.

Orr, J. C., Fabry, V. J., Aumont, O., Bopp, L., et al.: Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms, Nature, 437, 681–686, 2005.

Peirano, A.: In vivo measurements of the seasonal photosynthetic fluorescence of the Mediterranean coral Cladocora caespitosa, Scientia Marina, 71, 629–635, 2007.

Peirano, A., Morri, C., and Bianchi C. N.: Skeleton growth and density pattern of the zooxanthellae scleractinian Cladocora caespitosa (L.) from the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean Sea, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 185, 195–201, 1999.

Pörtner, H.-O.: Ecosystem effects of ocean acidification in times of ocean warming: a physiologist`s view, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 373, 203–217, 2009.

Pörtner, H. O. and Knust, R.: Climate change affects marine fishes through the oxygen limitation of thermal tolerance, Science, 315, 95–97, 2007.

Proye, A. and Gattuso, J.-P.: Seacarb, an R package to calculate parameters of the seawater carbonate system, online available at: <a href="http://www.obs-vlfr.fr/ gattuso/seacarb.php">http://www.obs-vlfr.fr/ gattuso/seacarb.php</a>, last access: 2003.

Reynaud, S., Leclercq, N., Romaine-Lioud, S., Ferrier-Pagès, C., Jaubert, J., and Gattuso, J.-P.: Interacting effects of CO2 partial pressure and temperature on photosynthesis and calcification in a scleractinian coral, Glob. Change Biol., 9, 1660–1668, 2003.

Ries, J., Cohen, A., and McCorkle, D.: Marine biocalcifiers exhibit mixed responses to CO2-induced ocean acidification, in: 11th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 7–11 July 2008, 229, 2008.

Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Huot, Y., and Ferrier-Pagès, C.: Photosynthetic response of the Mediterranean zooxanthellate coral Cladocora caespitosa to different light and temperature conditions, J. Exp. Biol., 211, 1579–1586, 2008a.

Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Peirano, A., Houlbrèque, F., Abbate, M., and Ferrier-Pagès, C.: Effect of temperature, light and heterotrophy on the growth rate and budding of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa, Coral Reefs, 27, 17–25, 2008b.

Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Reynaud, S., Allemand, D., and Ferrier-Pagès, C.: Temporal and depth response of two temperate corals, Cladocora caespitosa and Oculina patagonica from the North Mediterranean Sea, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 369, 103–114, 2008c.

Rodolfo-Metalpa, R., Richard, C., Allemand, D., and Ferrier-Pagès, C.: Growth and photosynthesis of two Mediterranean corals Cladocora caespitosa and Oculina patagonica under normal and elevated temperatures, J. Exp. Biol., 209, 4546–4556, 2006.

Schneider, K. and Erez, J.: The effect of carbonate chemistry on calcification and photosynthesis in the hermatypic coral Acropora eurystoma, Limnol. Oceanogr., 51, 1284–1293, 2006.

Shi, D., Xu, Y., and Morel, F. M. M.: Effects of the pH/pCO2 control method on medium chemistry and phytoplankton growth, Biogeosciences, 6, 1199–1207, 2009.

Silverman, J., Lazar, B., Long, C., Caldeira, K., and Erez, J.: Coral reefs may start dissolving when atmospheric CO2 doubles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L05606, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036282, 2009.

Smith, S. V., Stoddard, D. R., and Johannes, R. E. (eds.): Alkalinity depletion to estimate the calcification of coral reefs in flowing waters, in: Coral Reefs: research methods, Monogr. Methodol. 5 Unesco, edited by: Stoddard, D. R. and Johannes, R. E., 397–404, 1978.

Smith, S. V. and Kinsey, D. W.: Calcification and organic carbon metabolism as indicated by carbon dioxide, in: Coral Reefs: research methods, Monogr. Methodol. 5 Unesco, edited by: Stoddard, D. R. and Johannes, R. E., 469–484, 1978.

Steller, D. L., Hernández-Ayon, J. M., and Cabello-Pasini, A.: Effect of temperature on photosynthesis, growth and calcification rates of free-living coralline alga Lithophyllum margaritae, Ciencias Marinas, 33, 441–456, 2007.

Warner, M. E., Fitt, W. K., and Schmidt, G. W.: The effect of elevated temperature on the photosynthetic efficiency of zooxanthellae in hospite from four different species of reef corals: a novel approach, Plant Cell Environ., 19, 291–299, 1996.

Wood, H. L., Spicer, J. I., and Widdicombe, S.: Ocean acidification may increase calcification rates, but at a cost, Proc. R. Soc. B, 275, 1767–1773, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0343, 2008.