Citation:

sciadv.1500328

Name: Changes in coral reef communities across a natural gradient in seawater pH
Published: 2015-09-11
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Keywords: Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Coast and continental shelf; Community composition and diversity; Entire community; Field observation; Rocky-shore community; South Pacific; Tropical

Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.

RIS Citation BibTeX Citation Text Citation Facebook TwitterShow Map Google Earth

Abstract:

Ocean acidification threatens the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. The negative effects of ocean acidification observed in many laboratory experiments have been seen in studies of naturally low-pH reefs, with little evidence to date for adaptation. Recently, we reported initial data suggesting that low-pH coral communities of the Palau Rock Islands appear healthy despite the extreme conditions in which they live. Here, we build on that observation with a comprehensive statistical analysis of benthic communities across Palau's natural acidification gradient. Our analysis revealed a shift in coral community composition but no impact of acidification on coral richness, coralline algae abundance, macroalgae cover, coral calcification, or skeletal density. However, coral bioerosion increased 11-fold as pH decreased from the barrier reefs to the Rock Island bays. Indeed, a comparison of the naturally low-pH coral reef systems studied so far revealed increased bioerosion to be the only consistent feature among them, as responses varied across other indices of ecosystem health. Our results imply that whereas community responses may vary, escalation of coral reef bioerosion and acceleration of a shift from net accreting to net eroding reef structures will likely be a global signature of ocean acidification.

Keyword(s):

Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Coast and continental shelf; Community composition and diversity; Entire community; Field observation; Rocky-shore community; South Pacific; Tropical

Related to:

Cohen, Anne L; Karnauskas, Kristopher (2015): Dataset: coral skeletal growth [dataset]. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office, https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/561046

Cohen, Anne L; Karnauskas, Kristopher; McCorkle, Daniel C; Tarrant, Ann M; de Putron, Samantha J (2015): Dataset: coral diversity and richness [dataset]. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office, https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/520476

Cohen, Anne L; Karnauskas, Kristopher; McCorkle, Daniel C; Tarrant, Ann M; de Putron, Samantha J (2015): Dataset: Palau carbonate chemistry [dataset]. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office, https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/489014

Further details:

Gattuso, Jean-Pierre; Epitalon, Jean-Marie; Lavigne, Héloïse (2015): seacarb: seawater carbonate chemistry with R. R package version 3.0.8. https://cran.r-project.org/package=seacarb

Project(s):

Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC)

Coverage:

Median Latitude: 7.338125 * Median Longitude: 134.462750 * South-bound Latitude: 7.160000 * West-bound Longitude: 134.352000 * North-bound Latitude: 7.544000 * East-bound Longitude: 134.557000

Date/Time Start: 2011-09-19T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2013-11-15T00:00:00

Event(s):

Palau * Latitude: 7.338000 * Longitude: 134.463000 * Date/Time Start: 2011-09-19T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2013-11-15T00:00:00 * Method/Device: Experiment (EXP)

Comment:

In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Gattuso et al, 2015) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI). The date of carbonate chemistry calculation is 2015-09-09.

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	Site	Site		Barkley, Hannah C
2	LATITUDE	Latitude		Barkley, Hannah C		Geocode
3	LONGITUDE	Longitude		Barkley, Hannah C		Geocode
4	Aragonite saturation state	Omega Arg		Barkley, Hannah C
5	Aragonite saturation state, standard error	Omega Arg std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
6	Corals, cover	Corals cov	%	Barkley, Hannah C
7	Corals, cover, standard error	Corals cov std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
8	Species richness	S		Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
9	Species richness, standard error	S std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
10	Diversity	H(S)		Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
11	Diversity, standard error	H(S) std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
12	Evenness of species	E		Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
13	Evenness of species, standard error	E std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		coral genera
14	Coverage	Cov	%	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites coral
15	Coverage, standard error	Cov std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites coral
16	Coverage	Cov	%	Barkley, Hannah C		acropora coral
17	Coverage, standard error	Cov std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		acropora coral
18	Coverage	Cov	%	Barkley, Hannah C		macroalgae
19	Coverage, standard error	Cov std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		macroalgae
20	Coverage	Cov	%	Barkley, Hannah C		Crustose coralline algae (CCA)
21	Coverage, standard error	Cov std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Crustose coralline algae (CCA)
22	Extension rate	Extension	mm/a	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
23	Extension rate, standard error	Extension std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
24	Density	Density	g/cm³	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
25	Density, standard error	Density std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
26	Calcification rate of calcium carbonate	Calc rate CaCO3	g/cm²/a	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
27	Calcification rate, standard error	Calc rate std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Porites
28	Extension rate	Extension	mm/a	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
29	Extension rate, standard error	Extension std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
30	Density	Density	g/cm³	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
31	Density, standard error	Density std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
32	Calcification rate of calcium carbonate	Calc rate CaCO3	g/cm²/a	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
33	Calcification rate, standard error	Calc rate std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		Favia
34	Percentage	Perc	%	Barkley, Hannah C		average Porites percent volume bioeroded.
35	Percentage, standard error	Perc std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C		average Porites percent volume bioeroded.
36	Temperature, water	Temp	°C	Barkley, Hannah C
37	Temperature, water, standard error	T std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
38	Salinity	Sal		Barkley, Hannah C
39	Salinity, standard error	Sal std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
40	Nitrate and Nitrite	[NO3]- + [NO2]-	µmol/l	Barkley, Hannah C
41	Nitrate and Nitrite, standard error	[NO3]- + [NO2]- std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
42	Ammonium	[NH4]+	µmol/l	Barkley, Hannah C
43	Ammonium, standard error	[NH4]+ std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
44	Phosphate	[PO4]3-	µmol/l	Barkley, Hannah C
45	Phosphate, standard error	PO4 std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C
46	Alkalinity, total	AT	µmol/kg	Barkley, Hannah C	Potentiometric titration
47	Alkalinity, total, standard error	AT std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C	Potentiometric titration
48	Carbon, inorganic, dissolved	DIC	µmol/kg	Barkley, Hannah C	Coulometric titration
49	Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard error	DIC std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C	Coulometric titration
50	Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air)	pCO2water_SST_wet	µatm	Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS
51	Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air), standard error	pCO2water_SST_wet std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS
52	Carbonate ion	[CO3]2-	µmol/kg	Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS
53	Carbonate ion, standard error	[CO3]2- std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS
54	pH	pH		Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS	total scale
55	pH, standard error	pH std e	±	Barkley, Hannah C	Calculated using CO2SYS	total scale
56	Carbonate system computation flag	CSC flag		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
57	pH	pH		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)	total scale
58	Carbon dioxide	CO2	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
59	Fugacity of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air)	fCO2water_SST_wet	µatm	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
60	Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air)	pCO2water_SST_wet	µatm	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
61	Bicarbonate ion	[HCO3]-	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
62	Carbonate ion	[CO3]2-	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
63	Aragonite saturation state	Omega Arg		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
64	Calcite saturation state	Omega Cal		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

Status:

Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)

Size:

728 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

1 Site	2 Latitude	3 Longitude	4 Omega Arg	5 Omega Arg std e [±]	6 Corals cov [%]	7 Corals cov std e [±]	8 S (coral genera)	9 S std e [±] (coral genera)	10 H(S) (coral genera)	11 H(S) std e [±] (coral genera)	12 E (coral genera)	13 E std e [±] (coral genera)	14 Cov [%] (Porites coral)	15 Cov std e [±] (Porites coral)	16 Cov [%] (acropora coral)	17 Cov std e [±] (acropora coral)	18 Cov [%] (macroalgae)	19 Cov std e [±] (macroalgae)	20 Cov [%] (Crustose coralline algae (CCA))	21 Cov std e [±] (Crustose coralline algae (CCA))	22 Extension [mm/a] (Porites)	23 Extension std e [±] (Porites)	24 Density [g/cm³] (Porites)	25 Density std e [±] (Porites)	26 Calc rate CaCO3 [g/cm²/a] (Porites)	27 Calc rate std e [±] (Porites)	28 Extension [mm/a] (Favia)	29 Extension std e [±] (Favia)	30 Density [g/cm³] (Favia)	31 Density std e [±] (Favia)	32 Calc rate CaCO3 [g/cm²/a] (Favia)	33 Calc rate std e [±] (Favia)	34 Perc [%] (average Porites percent volum...)	35 Perc std e [±] (average Porites percent volum...)	36 Temp [°C]	37 T std e [±]	38 Sal	39 Sal std e [±]	40 [NO3]- + [NO2]- [µmol/l]	41 [NO3]- + [NO2]- std e [±]	42 [NH4]+ [µmol/l]	43 [NH4]+ std e [±]	44 [PO4]3- [µmol/l]	45 PO4 std e [±]	46 AT [µmol/kg] (Potentiometric titration)	47 AT std e [±] (Potentiometric titration)	48 DIC [µmol/kg] (Coulometric titration)	49 DIC std e [±] (Coulometric titration)	50 pCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	51 pCO2water_SST_wet std e [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	52 [CO3]2- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	53 [CO3]2- std e [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	54 pH (total scale, Calculated using...)	55 pH std e [±] (total scale, Calculated using...)	56 CSC flag (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	57 pH (total scale, Calculated using...)	58 CO2 [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	59 fCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	60 pCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	61 [HCO3]- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	62 [CO3]2- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	63 Omega Arg (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	64 Omega Cal (Calculated using seacarb afte...)
Nikko	7.324	134.493	2.32	0.03	63.00	4.19	12.6	0.50	1.60	0.09	0.41	0.05	34.00	6.32	0.20	0.12	0.00	0.00	0.90	0.60															30.3	0.1	32.4	0.10	0.37	0.08	0.46	0.07	0.05	0.00	1976.70	4.3	1782.7	4.1	604.2	0.22	139.8	1.7	7.84	0.00	15	7.84	15.30	603.17	604.98	1627.44	140.00	2.33	3.49
Risong	7.307	134.477	2.67	0.02	31.84	4.50	12.0	0.42	1.79	0.04	0.52	0.05	14.10	4.08	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	2.16	0.99															30.0	0.1	33.2	0.00	0.21	0.05	0.10	0.02	0.05	0.00	2063.80	1.3	1836.8	1.7	542.6	4.40	162.2	1.0	7.90	0.00	15	7.89	13.99	550.31	551.97	1672.44	162.25	2.68	4.01
Taoch	7.277	134.427	3.24	0.06	63.10	4.78	5.0	0.58	0.30	0.05	0.41	0.15	59.60	5.41	0.50	0.22	0.00	0.00	0.10	0.10															29.5	0.2	33.7	0.05	0.32	0.13	0.37	0.15	0.09	0.02	2163.10	10.9	1883.6	9.4	447.0	10.30	197.8	3.5	7.98	0.01	15	7.98	11.49	447.83	449.19	1674.25	197.83	3.24	4.86
Ngaremlengui_Patch	7.541	134.470	3.43	0.08	29.95	7.78	9.2	0.22	1.45	0.07	0.50	0.09	14.10	8.11	14.60	3.51	0.21	0.13	0.00	0.00															29.7	0.0	33.2	0.10	0.08	0.05	0.29	0.15	0.04	0.02	2132.60	8.1	1835.3	15.7	395.5	19.20	208.5	4.9	8.02	0.02	15	8.01	10.26	401.53	402.74	1606.68	203.75	3.35	5.02
Airai	7.329	134.557	3.46	0.15	37.22	4.83	8.8	0.36	1.07	0.05	0.35	0.05	3.30	1.28	26.61	5.41	2.70	0.75	2.50	0.81															29.6	0.3	33.1	0.30	0.41	0.13	0.09	0.03	0.05	0.00	2107.01	23.9	1845.6	24.2	378.3	19.60	210.3	8.9	8.02	0.02	15	8.03	9.70	377.63	378.77	1585.41	210.49	3.47	5.20
Uchelbeluu	7.271	134.549	3.66	0.08	28.60	1.32	8.4	0.50	1.46	0.07	0.54	0.03	1.30	0.73	10.00	2.09	0.30	0.20	1.70	0.80															29.7	0.1	33.5	0.10	0.32	0.08	0.29	0.07	0.04	0.01	2159.60	7.7	1841.0	9.1	373.6	13.40	223.0	4.7	8.05	0.01	15	8.05	9.54	373.34	374.47	1608.48	222.95	3.66	5.49
Ngerdiluches	7.438	134.357	3.68	0.05	21.13	4.92	7.0	0.51	1.48	0.04	0.69	0.09	1.74	0.68	8.62	3.51	1.03	0.46	1.03	0.58															29.1	0.1	33.9	0.00	0.13	0.04	0.12	0.05	0.05	0.00	2178.00	15.7	1882.8	18.7	372.8	8.30	225.5	3.4	8.05	0.01	15	8.05	9.51	368.86	369.98	1626.32	226.04	3.69	5.54
Ngaremlengui_Barrier	7.544	134.444	3.69	0.06	31.25	4.57	9.4	0.67	1.61	0.08	0.56	0.05	1.20	0.37	23.90	1.95	0.10	0.10	2.14	0.79															29.6	0.1	33.4	0.00	0.03	0.00	0.30	0.09	0.03	0.00	2132.60	8.1	1835.3	15.6	369.6	8.40	224.6	3.6	8.05	0.01	15	8.05	9.45	368.89	370.01	1623.67	224.81	3.69	5.54
Nikko_Bay	7.324	134.492	2.32	0.03																	9.1	0.6	0.97	0.04	0.87	0.06	6.7	0.3	0.95	0.04	0.66	0.03	2.00	0.60	30.3	0.1	32.4	0.10	0.37	0.08	0.46	0.07	0.05	0.00	1976.70	4.3	1782.7	4.1	604.2	0.22	139.8	1.7	7.84	0.00	15	7.84	15.30	603.17	604.98	1627.44	140.00	2.33	3.49
Risong	7.304	134.477	2.67	0.02																	7.8	0.4	1.06	0.04	0.82	0.05	6.3	0.3	0.95	0.04	0.63	0.04	1.18	0.41	30.0	0.1	33.2	0.00	0.21	0.05	0.10	0.02	0.05	0.00	2063.80	1.3	1836.8	1.7	542.6	4.40	162.2	1.0	7.90	0.00	15	7.89	13.99	550.31	551.97	1672.44	162.25	2.68	4.01
Mecherchar	7.160	134.352	2.88	0.07																	7.5	0.5	1.35	0.04	1.01	0.05							5.55	0.95	31.3	0.2	33.2	0.10	0.27	0.07	0.71	0.12	0.07	0.01	2082.90	7.8	1839.1	6.3	534.5	17.40	173.5	4.2	7.90	0.01	15	7.91	13.18	533.92	535.51	1652.11	173.79	2.89	4.31
PICRC	7.338	134.454	3.13	0.08																	9.5	0.7	0.98	0.06	0.91	0.08							0.55	0.23	30.5	0.2	33.5	0.10	0.51	0.03	0.52	0.07	0.09	0.00	2131.60	6.6	1863.3	2.9	477.6	16.10	189.9	4.8	7.95	0.01	15	7.95	11.96	476.73	478.16	1661.17	190.20	3.14	4.69
Taoch	7.276	134.427	3.24	0.06																	8.0	0.6	1.07	0.04	0.85	0.06							1.15	0.43	29.5	0.2	33.7	0.05	0.32	0.13	0.37	0.15	0.09	0.02	2163.10	10.9	1883.6	9.4	447.0	10.30	197.8	3.5	7.98	0.01	15	7.98	11.49	447.83	449.19	1674.25	197.83	3.24	4.86
Drop_Off	7.268	134.522	3.65	0.06																	7.4	0.6	1.32	0.03	0.98	0.09	6.1	0.5	1.09	0.07	0.68	0.04	0.00	0.00	29.9	0.3	33.6	0.10	0.11	0.55	0.41	0.12	0.03	0.00	2178.80	9.9	1862.7	11.9	384.4	8.60	221.9	3.2	8.04	0.00	15	8.04	9.76	383.69	384.85	1630.77	222.18	3.65	5.47
Uchelbeluu	7.271	134.549	3.66	0.08																	9.7	0.5	1.27	0.03	1.23	0.05	6.5	0.3	1.00	0.07	0.67	0.04	0.19	0.12	29.7	0.1	33.5	0.10	0.32	0.08	0.29	0.07	0.04	0.01	2159.60	7.7	1841.0	9.1	373.6	13.40	223.0	4.7	8.05	0.01	15	8.05	9.54	373.34	374.47	1608.48	222.95	3.66	5.49
Ngerdiluches	7.438	134.357	3.68	0.05																	8.1	0.7	1.30	0.05	1.07	0.11							0.09	0.08	29.1	0.1	33.9	0.00	0.13	0.04	0.12	0.05	0.05	0.00	2178.00	15.7	1882.8	18.7	372.8	8.30	225.5	3.4	8.05	0.01	15	8.05	9.51	368.86	369.98	1626.32	226.04	3.69	5.54