Citation:

ncomms8368

Name: Morphological plasticity of the coral skeleton under CO2-driven seawater acidification
Published: 2015-09-28
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Keywords: Acid-base regulation; Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; Mediterranean Sea; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Respiration; Single species; Stylophora pistillata; Tropical

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Abstract:

Ocean acidification causes corals to calcify at reduced rates, but current understanding of the underlying processes is limited. Here, we conduct a mechanistic study into how seawater acidification alters skeletal growth of the coral Stylophora pistillata. Reductions in colony calcification rates are manifested as increases in skeletal porosity at lower pH, while linear extension of skeletons remains unchanged. Inspection of the microstructure of skeletons and measurements of pH at the site of calcification indicate that dissolution is not responsible for changes in skeletal porosity. Instead, changes occur by enlargement of corallite-calyxes and thinning of associated skeletal elements, constituting a modification in skeleton architecture. We also detect increases in the organic matrix protein content of skeletons formed under lower pH. Overall, our study reveals that seawater acidification not only causes decreases in calcification, but can also cause morphological change of the coral skeleton to a more porous and potentially fragile phenotype.

Keyword(s):

Acid-base regulation; Animalia; Benthic animals; Benthos; Biomass/Abundance/Elemental composition; Calcification/Dissolution; Cnidaria; Coast and continental shelf; Growth/Morphology; Laboratory experiment; Mediterranean Sea; Primary production/Photosynthesis; Respiration; Single species; Stylophora pistillata; Tropical

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)

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 2015-09-24.

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Method/Device	Comment
1	Species	Species		Venn, Alexander A
2	Figure	Fig		Venn, Alexander A
3	Table	Tab		Venn, Alexander A
4	Treatment	Treat		Venn, Alexander A
5	Calcification rate of calcium carbonate	Calc rate CaCO3	mg/g/day	Venn, Alexander A		net
6	Calcification rate, standard error	Calc rate std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		net
7	Linear extension	Lin ext	µm/day	Venn, Alexander A
8	Linear extension, standard error	Lin ext std e	±	Venn, Alexander A
9	Density, skeletal bulk	Density skel b	g/cm³	Venn, Alexander A
10	Density, skeletal bulk, standard error	Density skel b std e	±	Venn, Alexander A
11	Porosity	Poros	% vol	Venn, Alexander A
12	Porosity, standard error	Poros std e	±	Venn, Alexander A
13	Calcifying fluid, pH	CF pH		Venn, Alexander A		light
14	Calcifying fluid, pH, standard error	CF pH std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		light
15	Calcifying fluid, pH	CF pH		Venn, Alexander A		dark
16	Calcifying fluid, pH, standard error	CF pH std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		dark
17	pH	pH		Venn, Alexander A		seawater surrounding the colonies, light, total scale
18	pH, standard error	pH std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		seawater surrounding the colonies, light, total scale
19	pH	pH		Venn, Alexander A		seawater surrounding the colonies, dark, total scale
20	pH, standard error	pH std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		seawater surrounding the colonies, dark, total scale
21	Area in square milimeter	Area	mm²	Venn, Alexander A		corallite calyx size
22	Area, standard error	Area std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		corallite calyx size
23	Organic matrix protein, per skeleton	Org matrix protein/skel	µg/g	Venn, Alexander A
24	Organic matrix protein, per skeleton, standard error	Org matrix protein/skel std e	±	Venn, Alexander A
25	Corallite, per skeleton surface area	Corallite/skel SA	#/cm²	Venn, Alexander A
26	Corallite, per skeleton surface area, standard error	Corallite/skel SA std e	±	Venn, Alexander A
27	Photosynthesis rate of oxygen	Photosynth O	µmol/cm²/h	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
28	Photosynthesis rate of oxygen, standard error	Photosynth O std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
29	Respiration rate, oxygen	Resp O2	µmol/cm²/h	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
30	Respiration rate, oxygen, standard error	Resp O2 std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
31	Protein per surface area	Protein	mg/cm²	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
32	Proteins, standard error	Protein std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
33	Symbiont cell density	Symbiont	#/cm²	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
34	Symbiont cell density, standard error	Symbiont std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
35	Chlorophyll a	Chl a	µg/cm²	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
36	Chlorophyll a, standard error	Chl a std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
37	Chlorophyll c2	Chl c2	µg/cm²	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
38	Chlorophyll c2, standard error	Chl c2 std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by surface area
39	Photosynthesis rate, oxygen, per protein	Photosynth O/prot	µmol/mg/h	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
40	Photosynthesis rate of oxygen, standard error	Photosynth O std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
41	Respiration rate, oxygen, per protein	Resp O2/prot	µmol/mg/h	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
42	Respiration rate, oxygen, standard error	Resp O2 std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
43	Symbiont cell density	Symbiont	#/mg	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
44	Symbiont cell density, standard error	Symbiont std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
45	Chlorophyll a, per protein	Chl a/prot	µg/mg	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
46	Chlorophyll a, standard error	Chl a std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
47	Chlorophyll c2, per protein	Chl c2/prot	µg/mg	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
48	Chlorophyll c2, standard error	Chl c2 std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized by protein
49	Photosynthesis rate of oxygen, per symbiont cell	Photosynth O/symbiont	µmol/#/h	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
50	Photosynthesis rate of oxygen, standard error	Photosynth O std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
51	Chlorophyll a per cell	Chl a/cell	pg/#	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
52	Chlorophyll a, standard error	Chl a std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
53	Chlorophyll c2 per cell	Chl c2/cell	pg/#	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
54	Chlorophyll c2, standard error	Chl c2 std e	±	Venn, Alexander A		normalized per symbiont cell
55	Salinity	Sal		Venn, Alexander A
56	Temperature, water	Temp	°C	Venn, Alexander A
57	pH	pH		Venn, Alexander A	Potentiometric	total scale
58	pH, standard deviation	pH std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Potentiometric	total scale
59	Alkalinity, total	AT	µmol/kg	Venn, Alexander A	Potentiometric titration
60	Alkalinity, total, standard deviation	AT std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Potentiometric titration
61	Partial pressure of carbon dioxide (water) at sea surface temperature (wet air)	pCO2water_SST_wet	µatm	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
62	Partial pressure of carbon dioxide, standard deviation	pCO2 std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
63	Bicarbonate ion	[HCO3]-	µmol/kg	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
64	Bicarbonate ion, standard deviation	[HCO3]- std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
65	Carbonate ion	[CO3]2-	µmol/kg	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
66	Carbonate ion, standard deviation	[CO3]2- std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
67	Carbon, inorganic, dissolved	DIC	µmol/kg	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
68	Carbon, inorganic, dissolved, standard deviation	DIC std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
69	Aragonite saturation state	Omega Arg		Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
70	Aragonite saturation state, standard deviation	Omega Arg std dev	±	Venn, Alexander A	Calculated using CO2SYS
71	Carbonate system computation flag	CSC flag		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
72	Carbon dioxide	CO2	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
73	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)
74	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)
75	Bicarbonate ion	[HCO3]-	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
76	Carbonate ion	[CO3]2-	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
77	Carbon, inorganic, dissolved	DIC	µmol/kg	Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
78	Aragonite saturation state	Omega Arg		Yang, Yan	Calculated using seacarb after Nisumaa et al. (2010)
79	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:

464 data points

Data

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

1 Species	2 Fig	3 Tab	4 Treat	5 Calc rate CaCO3 [mg/g/day] (net)	6 Calc rate std e [±] (net)	7 Lin ext [µm/day]	8 Lin ext std e [±]	9 Density skel b [g/cm³]	10 Density skel b std e [±]	11 Poros [% vol]	12 Poros std e [±]	13 CF pH (light)	14 CF pH std e [±] (light)	15 CF pH (dark)	16 CF pH std e [±] (dark)	17 pH (seawater surrounding the colo...)	18 pH std e [±] (seawater surrounding the colo...)	19 pH (seawater surrounding the colo...)	20 pH std e [±] (seawater surrounding the colo...)	21 Area [mm²] (corallite calyx size)	22 Area std e [±] (corallite calyx size)	23 Org matrix protein/skel [µg/g]	24 Org matrix protein/skel std e [±]	25 Corallite/skel SA [#/cm²]	26 Corallite/skel SA std e [±]	27 Photosynth O [µmol/cm²/h] (normalized by surface area)	28 Photosynth O std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	29 Resp O2 [µmol/cm²/h] (normalized by surface area)	30 Resp O2 std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	31 Protein [mg/cm²] (normalized by surface area)	32 Protein std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	33 Symbiont [#/cm²] (normalized by surface area)	34 Symbiont std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	35 Chl a [µg/cm²] (normalized by surface area)	36 Chl a std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	37 Chl c2 [µg/cm²] (normalized by surface area)	38 Chl c2 std e [±] (normalized by surface area)	39 Photosynth O/prot [µmol/mg/h] (normalized by protein)	40 Photosynth O std e [±] (normalized by protein)	41 Resp O2/prot [µmol/mg/h] (normalized by protein)	42 Resp O2 std e [±] (normalized by protein)	43 Symbiont [#/mg] (normalized by protein)	44 Symbiont std e [±] (normalized by protein)	45 Chl a/prot [µg/mg] (normalized by protein)	46 Chl a std e [±] (normalized by protein)	47 Chl c2/prot [µg/mg] (normalized by protein)	48 Chl c2 std e [±] (normalized by protein)	49 Photosynth O/symbiont [µmol/#/h] (normalized per symbiont cell)	50 Photosynth O std e [±] (normalized per symbiont cell)	51 Chl a/cell [pg/#] (normalized per symbiont cell)	52 Chl a std e [±] (normalized per symbiont cell)	53 Chl c2/cell [pg/#] (normalized per symbiont cell)	54 Chl c2 std e [±] (normalized per symbiont cell)	55 Sal	56 Temp [°C]	57 pH (total scale, Potentiometric)	58 pH std dev [±] (total scale, Potentiometric)	59 AT [µmol/kg] (Potentiometric titration)	60 AT std dev [±] (Potentiometric titration)	61 pCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	62 pCO2 std dev [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	63 [HCO3]- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	64 [HCO3]- std dev [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	65 [CO3]2- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	66 [CO3]2- std dev [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	67 DIC [µmol/kg] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	68 DIC std dev [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	69 Omega Arg (Calculated using CO2SYS)	70 Omega Arg std dev [±] (Calculated using CO2SYS)	71 CSC flag (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	72 CO2 [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	73 fCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	74 pCO2water_SST_wet [µatm] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	75 [HCO3]- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	76 [CO3]2- [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	77 DIC [µmol/kg] (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	78 Omega Arg (Calculated using seacarb afte...)	79 Omega Cal (Calculated using seacarb afte...)
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	1, 3, 5, S3		pH=7.2	6.16	0.20	60.69	17.41	1.39	0.02	58	2.25									1.15	0.04	24.61	1.47	51.06	1.52																													38	25	7.20	0.01	2530.96	7.15	3792.57	52.54	2423.67	5.22	44.23	0.81	2573.68	4.57	0.69	0.01	8	105.22	3764.45	3776.55	2423.27	44.39	2572.89	0.69	1.04
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	1, 3, 5, S3		pH=7.4	6.33	0.19	43.63	12.58	1.68	0.04	50	1.05									1.05	0.04	22.47	1.46	53.25	1.74																													38	25	7.40	0.01	2490.00	6.06	2256.88	32.98	2323.49	3.20	68.38	1.21	2454.76	3.48	1.06	0.02	8	63.72	2279.42	2286.74	2325.55	67.52	2456.78	1.05	1.58
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	1, 3, 5, S3		pH=7.8	7.10	0.18	40.72	12.18	1.83	0.09	40	1.86									0.85	0.04	19.17	1.49	61.20	1.73																													38	25	7.79	0.01	2485.12	5.25	856.17	13.63	2119.11	1.40	149.94	2.37	2292.90	1.58	2.33	0.04	8	23.63	845.21	847.91	2116.72	150.86	2291.20	2.34	3.54
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	1, 3, 5, S3		pH=8	7.33	0.16	56.67	17.91	1.85	0.05	41	3.90									0.71	0.05	16.56	1.30	76.32	5.73																													38	25	7.95	0.00	2461.73	6.31	538.41	4.85	1961.44	1.48	204.27	2.06	2180.71	3.42	3.17	0.03	8	15.18	543.00	544.74	1965.63	202.49	2183.30	3.14	4.75
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	2		pH=7.2									7.77	0.04	7.75	0.02	7.13	0.07	7.20	0.03																																			38	25	7.20	0.01	2530.96	7.15	3792.57	52.54	2423.67	5.22	44.23	0.81	2573.68	4.57	0.69	0.01	8	105.22	3764.45	3776.55	2423.27	44.39	2572.89	0.69	1.04
Stylophora pistillata (coral)	2		pH=8									8.28	0.09	8.18	0.10	8.06	0.04	7.96	0.02																																			38	25	7.95	0.00	2461.73	6.31	538.41	4.85	1961.44	1.48	204.27	2.06	2180.71	3.42	3.17	0.03	8	15.18	543.00	544.74	1965.63	202.49	2183.30	3.14	4.75
Stylophora pistillata (coral)		2	pH=7.2																							1.14	0.18	1.39	0.24	1.18	0.12	2110000	168000	9.77	0.58	2.01	0.16	0.95	0.11	1.03	0.21	2120000	153000	9.82	0.51	2.01	0.14	0.000000415	0.00000002	4.69	0.30	0.96	0.06	38	25	7.20	0.01	2530.96	7.15	3792.57	52.54	2423.67	5.22	44.23	0.81	2573.68	4.57	0.69	0.01	8	105.22	3764.45	3776.55	2423.27	44.39	2572.89	0.69	1.04
Stylophora pistillata (coral)		2	pH=7.4																							0.82	0.15	1.31	0.23	0.91	0.11	1780000	168000	11.20	0.59	2.27	0.16	0.82	0.18	1.40	0.36	1820000	172000	11.44	0.59	2.02	0.16	0.000000397	0.00000025	4.95	0.28	0.99	0.05	38	25	7.40	0.01	2490.00	6.06	2256.88	32.98	2323.49	3.20	68.38	1.21	2454.76	3.48	1.06	0.02	8	63.72	2279.42	2286.74	2325.55	67.52	2456.78	1.05	1.58
Stylophora pistillata (coral)		2	pH=7.8																							1.00	0.18	1.33	0.20	0.95	0.11	1500000	178000	9.35	0.58	1.63	0.16	0.95	0.18	1.45	0.21	1710000	154000	10.39	0.72	2.20	0.18	0.000000366	0.00000002	5.03	0.10	1.04	0.05	38	25	7.79	0.01	2485.12	5.25	856.17	13.63	2119.11	1.40	149.94	2.37	2292.90	1.58	2.33	0.04	8	23.63	845.21	847.91	2116.72	150.86	2291.20	2.34	3.54
Stylophora pistillata (coral)		2	pH=8																							1.01	0.23	1.25	0.18	0.97	0.10	2140000	203000	7.80	1.05	1.74	0.12	0.92	0.14	1.24	0.12	2560000	158000	9.41	1.16	2.34	0.24	0.000000389	0.00000003	5.42	0.14	1.09	0.05	38	25	7.95	0.00	2461.73	6.31	538.41	4.85	1961.44	1.48	204.27	2.06	2180.71	3.42	3.17	0.03	8	15.18	543.00	544.74	1965.63	202.49	2183.30	3.14	4.75