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Calcification by juvenile corals under heterotrophy and elevated CO2

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Abstract

Ocean acidification (OA) threatens the existence of coral reefs by slowing the rate of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) production of framework-building corals thus reducing the amount of CaCO3 the reef can produce to counteract natural dissolution. Some evidence exists to suggest that elevated levels of dissolved inorganic nutrients can reduce the impact of OA on coral calcification. Here, we investigated the potential for enhanced energetic status of juvenile corals, achieved via heterotrophic feeding, to modulate the negative impact of OA on calcification. Larvae of the common Atlantic golf ball coral, Favia fragum, were collected and reared for 3 weeks under ambient (421 μatm) or significantly elevated (1,311 μatm) CO2 conditions. The metamorphosed, zooxanthellate spat were either fed brine shrimp (i.e., received nutrition from photosynthesis plus heterotrophy) or not fed (i.e., primarily autotrophic). Regardless of CO2 condition, the skeletons of fed corals exhibited accelerated development of septal cycles and were larger than those of unfed corals. At each CO2 level, fed corals accreted more CaCO3 than unfed corals, and fed corals reared under 1,311 μatm CO2 accreted as much CaCO3 as unfed corals reared under ambient CO2. However, feeding did not alter the sensitivity of calcification to increased CO2; ∆ calcification/∆Ω was comparable for fed and unfed corals. Our results suggest that calcification rates of nutritionally replete juvenile corals will decline as OA intensifies over the course of this century. Critically, however, such corals could maintain higher rates of skeletal growth and CaCO3 production under OA than those in nutritionally limited environments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Rebecca Belastock (WHOI) for DIC/Alk analyses. We also thank Ms. Hannah Barkley (WHOI), Ms. Kascia White (BIOS) and Mr. Mark Dowar (BIOS) for assistance with fieldwork and experiment maintenance, and Dr Neal Cantin (WHOI) for assistance with laboratory procedures. This project was funded by NSF OCE-1041106 and NSF OCE-1041052, a WHOI winter intern fellowship to A. Zicht made possible by the A. V. Davis Foundation and support from the MIT/WHOI Bermuda Biological Station for Research Fund. We thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editor for suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. A. E. Zicht

    Present address: Rutgers University, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    E. J. Drenkard

  2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    A. L. Cohen, D. C. McCorkle & V. R. Starczak

  3. Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, St. George’s, GE 01, Bermuda

    S. J. de Putron

  4. Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, 44074, USA

    A. E. Zicht

  5. 266 Woods Hole Rd., Clark 120A (MS# 23), Woods Hole, MA, 02543-1050, USA

    E. J. Drenkard

  6. 266 Woods Hole Rd., Clark 118 (MS# 23), Woods Hole, MA, 02543-1050, USA

    A. L. Cohen

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  1. E. J. Drenkard
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Correspondence to E. J. Drenkard or A. L. Cohen.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Anastazia Banaszak

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Drenkard, E.J., Cohen, A.L., McCorkle, D.C. et al. Calcification by juvenile corals under heterotrophy and elevated CO2 . Coral Reefs 32, 727–735 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1021-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-013-1021-5

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