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Effects of pCO2 on physiology and skeletal mineralogy in a tidal pool coralline alga Corallina elongata

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An Erratum to this article was published on 20 August 2014

Abstract

Marine organisms inhabiting environments where pCO2/pH varies naturally are suggested to be relatively resilient to future ocean acidification. To test this hypothesis, the effect of elevated pCO2 was investigated in the articulated coralline red alga Corallina elongata from an intertidal rock pool on the north coast of Brittany (France), where pCO2 naturally varied daily between 70 and 1000 μatm. Metabolism was measured on algae in the laboratory after they had been grown for 3 weeks at pCO2 concentrations of 380, 550, 750 and 1000 μatm. Net and gross primary production, respiration and calcification rates were assessed by measurements of oxygen and total alkalinity fluxes using incubation chambers in the light and dark. Calcite mol % Mg/Ca (mMg/Ca) was analysed in the tips, branches and basal parts of the fronds, as well as in new skeletal structures produced by the algae in the different pCO2 treatments. Respiration, gross primary production and calcification in light and dark were not significantly affected by increased pCO2. Algae grown under elevated pCO2 (550, 750 and 1000 μatm) formed fewer new structures and produced calcite with a lower mMg/Ca ratio relative to those grown under 380 μatm. This study supports the assumption that C. elongata from a tidal pool, where pCO2 fluctuates over diel and seasonal cycles, is relatively robust to elevated pCO2 compared to other recently investigated coralline algae.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Niels Oskarsson at the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, for invaluable advice and assistance with skeletal analysis. We also thank Erwan Ar Gall for his help with species determination. The anonymous reviewers and editor are gratefully acknowledged for their constructive comments and suggestions. This study is funded by the Marine Research Institute, Iceland and is a contribution to the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) that received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under agreement n°211384.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Research Institute, Skulagata 4, 121, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Hronn Egilsdottir & Jon Olafsson

  2. Faculty of Earth Science, University of Iceland, Askja, Sturlugata 7, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Hronn Egilsdottir & Jon Olafsson

  3. CNRS, Laboratoire Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29682, Roscoff, France

    Fanny Noisette, Laure M.-L. J. Noël & Sophie Martin

  4. Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6, Laboratoire Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Place Georges Teissier, 29682, Roscoff, France

    Fanny Noisette, Laure M.-L. J. Noël & Sophie Martin

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  1. Hronn Egilsdottir
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Correspondence to Hronn Egilsdottir.

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Communicated by S. Dupont.

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2517-4.

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Egilsdottir, H., Noisette, F., Noël, L.ML.J. et al. Effects of pCO2 on physiology and skeletal mineralogy in a tidal pool coralline alga Corallina elongata . Mar Biol 160, 2103–2112 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2090-7

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