[Coral-List] new coral-OA papers

Anne Cohen acohen at whoi.edu
Fri Feb 10 10:46:11 EST 2017


Dear Colleagues

I am pleased to draw your attention to two new papers that may be of 
interest:

*Community production modulates coral reef pH and the sensitivity of 
ecosystem calcification to ocean acidification*, //DeCarlo, T. M./, /A. 
L. Cohen/, /G. T. F. Wong/, /F.-K. Shiah/, /S. J. Lentz/, /K. A. Davis/, 
/K. E. F. Shamberger/, and /P. Lohmann/(/2017/), J. Geophys. Res. 
Oceans/, /122/, doi:10.1002/2016JC012326. 
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JC012326>Conducted on Dongsha Atoll, 
northern south China Sea, this study highlights the role of benthic 
communities in modulating the chemistry of reef seawater. Unlike Palau, 
benthic algal productivity on the Dongsha reef flat counteracts the 
impact of calcification on seawater pH, leading to daytime pH and 
aragonite saturation well above that of the open ocean source water. 
Consequently, rates of net community calcification are amongst the 
highest ever measured. During a transient bleaching event, these 
connections were disrupted, drawing attention to the dangers posed by 
ocean warming on the ability of reefs to buffer against ocean 
acidification.

*Mechanisms and thresholds for pH tolerance in Palau corals* 
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2017.01.003>/, ///Hannah C. Barkley, 
Anne L. Cohen, Daniel C. McCorkle, Yimnang Golbuu (2017), /** 
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2017.01.003>Journal of Experimental 
Marine Biology and Ecology, Volume 489, April 2017, Pages 7–14, doi: 
10.1016/j.jembe.2017.01.003. /Two species of Palau corals maintain 
calcification rates across a strong gradient in seawater pH (Barkley et 
al., 2015). Here, we combined laboratory manipulation experiments with a 
reciprocal transplant to investigate whether unique environmental 
conditions in Palau’s low pH bays, or adaptation could account for the 
apparent pH tolerance. In the experiment, Palau /Porite/s calcification 
was unresponsive to pH down to 7.6 (Ω_ar = 1.5), exhibiting greater 
tolerance than /Porites/ in several independent experiments. However, 
/Porites/ from Palau’s low pH reefs failed to transplant successfully to 
high pH reefs (and visa versa), suggesting local adaptation to other 
(non-pH) factors that co-vary across Palau’s natural acidification 
gradient.

Please contact us if you have any trouble with access,

best wishes

Anne, Hannah, Tom

-- 
Anne L. Cohen PhD
Tenured Associate Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mailstop #23
Woods Hole
MA 02543
Office: 508 289 2958
Lab: 508 289 3857
http://www.whoi.edu/cohenlab/



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