[Coral-List] Corals Persist But Bioerosion Rises in Low-pH Waters (Anne Cohen)

[Eugene Shinn]

The Woods Hole press release is interesting. I was concerned about the 
proposed connection between acidification and increasing numbers of 
borers. One would like to see some experimental evidence that borers 
actually favor lower pH. Do such experimental data exist? Borers that 
attack wood piling, boats, and limestone do favor areas of restricted 
circulation over areas of increased oceanic circulation. For example, 
Biscayne Bay supports far more boring and fowling organisms than do the 
more open waters of the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. Those differences 
in boring fauna are not related to pH. Most likely the greater abundance 
of rocky intertidal surfaces in Biscayne Bay that boring and other 
fowling organisms favor combined with longer retention time of larvae in 
an environment favorable to their success account for the bay’s 
increased numbers of boring organisms. Those conditions also are found 
in the many lagoons of Palau. Could it be that the greater numbers of 
boring organisms that attack coral skeletons there has nothing to do 
with acidification? Experimental data may be needed to determine if pH 
is the culprit. Gene



On 6/8/15 12:00 PM, coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov wrote:
> Corals Persist But Bioerosion Rises in Low-pH Waters (Anne Cohen)

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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158
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