Resistance of Two Mediterranean Cold-Water Coral Species to Low-pH Conditions

Water

Juancho Movilla¹  Andrea Gori¹  Eva Calvo¹  Covadonga Orejas²  Àngel López-Sanz¹  Carlos Domínguez-Carrió¹  Jordi Grinyó¹ 

[1]Institut de Ciències del Mar, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, Barcelona 08003, Spain

[2] E-Mails:

[3]Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares (COB), Moll de Ponent s/n, Palma de Mallorca 07015, Spain

[4] E-Mail:

关键词: ocean acidification;    cold-water corals;    Lophelia pertusa;    Madrepora oculata;    Mediterranean Sea;    aquaria experiment;    calcification rate;    porosity;    microdensity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w6010059

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Deep-water ecosystems are characterized by relatively low carbonate concentration values and, due to ocean acidification (OA), these habitats might be among the first to be exposed to undersaturated conditions in the forthcoming years. However, until now, very few studies have been conducted to test how cold-water coral (CWC) species react to such changes in the seawater chemistry. The present work aims to investigate the mid-term effect of decreased pH on calcification of the two branching CWC species most widely distributed in the Mediterranean, Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata. No significant effects were observed in the skeletal growth rate, microdensity and porosity of both species after 6 months of exposure. However, while the calcification rate of M. oculata was similar for all colony fragments, a heterogeneous skeletal growth pattern was observed in L. pertusa, the younger nubbins showing higher growth rates than the older ones. A higher energy demand is expected in these young, fast-growing fragments and, therefore, a reduction in calcification might be noticed earlier during long-term exposure to acidified conditions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.