Free Ocean CO2 Enrichment (FOCE) experiments: Scientific and technical recommendations for future in situ ocean acidification projects

Stark, Jonathan S.; Peltzer, Edward T.; Kline, David I.; Queirós, Ana M.; Cox, T. Erin; Headley, K.; Barry, James; Gazeau, Frédéric; Runcie, John W.; Widdicombe, Stephen; Milnes, Mark; Roden, Nicholas; Black, James; Whiteside, Steven E.; Johnstone, Glenn; Ingels, Jeroen; Shaw, Emily C.; Bodrossy, Levente; Gaitán‐Espitía, Juan Diego; Kirkwood, William; Gattuso, Jean‐Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2019.01.006

Cited by 18 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…However, these experimental set-ups are limited in ecological complexity and therefore need to target specific species, interactions or processes. In-situ manipulations are becoming more feasible through the use of FOCE (Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment; Stark et al 2019) and SCoRE-FOCE (Shallow Coral Reef Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment;Srednick et al 2020) experimental flumes. In-situ flumes use natural communities and therefore have greater ecological complexity; however, they may be unable to account for interactions with more mobile taxa such as fish and can be challenging/expensive to run over ecologically meaningful timescales.…”

Section: The Future Of Indirect Effects Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The indirect effects of ocean acidification on corals and coral communities

Hill

Hoogenboom

2022

Coral Reefs

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Ocean acidification (OA) is a major threat to marine calcifying organisms. This manuscript gives an overview of the physiological effects of acidification on reef-building corals from a cellular to population scale. In addition, we present the first review of the indirect effects resulting from altered species interactions. We find that the direct effects of acidification are more consistently negative at larger spatial scales, suggesting an accumulation of sub-lethal physiological effects can result in notable changes at a population and an ecosystem level. We identify that the indirect effects of acidification also have the potential to contribute to declines in coral cover under future acidified conditions. Of particular concern for reef persistence are declines in the abundance of crustose coralline algae which can result in loss of stable substrate and settlement cues for corals, potentially compounding the direct negative effects on coral recruitment rates. In addition, an increase in the abundance of bioeroders and bioerosive capacity may compound declines in calcification and result in a shift towards net dissolution. There are significant knowledge gaps around many indirect effects, including changes in herbivory and associated coral–macroalgal interactions, and changes in habitat provision of corals to fish, invertebrates and plankton, and the impact of changes to these interactions for both individual corals and reef biodiversity as structural complexity declines. This research highlights the potential of indirect effects to contribute to alterations in reef ecosystem functions and processes. Such knowledge will be critical for scaling-up the impacts of OA from individual corals to reef ecosystems and for understanding the effects of OA on reef-dependent human societies.

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Section: The Future Of Indirect Effects Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The indirect effects of ocean acidification on corals and coral communities

Hill

Hoogenboom

2022

Coral Reefs

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“…Further in situ studies, such as using free-ocean CO 2 enrichment (FOCE) systems (e.g. Stark et al, 2019), may allow us to evaluate longer term effects of ocean acidification. However, if a lack of acclimation holds true under natural conditions, the geographical range and abundance of some calcifying species may be reduced whilst others become extinct.…”

Section: Prognosesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Southern Ocean Seafloor Habitats and Communities to Global and Local Drivers of Change

et al. 2021

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Knowledge of life on the Southern Ocean seafloor has substantially grown since the beginning of this century with increasing ship-based surveys and regular monitoring sites, new technologies and greatly enhanced data sharing. However, seafloor habitats and their communities exhibit high spatial variability and heterogeneity that challenges the way in which we assess the state of the Southern Ocean benthos on larger scales. The Antarctic shelf is rich in diversity compared with deeper water areas, important for storing carbon (“blue carbon”) and provides habitat for commercial fish species. In this paper, we focus on the seafloor habitats of the Antarctic shelf, which are vulnerable to drivers of change including increasing ocean temperatures, iceberg scour, sea ice melt, ocean acidification, fishing pressures, pollution and non-indigenous species. Some of the most vulnerable areas include the West Antarctic Peninsula, which is experiencing rapid regional warming and increased iceberg-scouring, subantarctic islands and tourist destinations where human activities and environmental conditions increase the potential for the establishment of non-indigenous species and active fishing areas around South Georgia, Heard and MacDonald Islands. Vulnerable species include those in areas of regional warming with low thermal tolerance, calcifying species susceptible to increasing ocean acidity as well as slow-growing habitat-forming species that can be damaged by fishing gears e.g., sponges, bryozoan, and coral species. Management regimes can protect seafloor habitats and key species from fishing activities; some areas will need more protection than others, accounting for specific traits that make species vulnerable, slow growing and long-lived species, restricted locations with optimum physiological conditions and available food, and restricted distributions of rare species. Ecosystem-based management practices and long-term, highly protected areas may be the most effective tools in the preservation of vulnerable seafloor habitats. Here, we focus on outlining seafloor responses to drivers of change observed to date and projections for the future. We discuss the need for action to preserve seafloor habitats under climate change, fishing pressures and other anthropogenic impacts.

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“…In ecosystems dominated by photosynthetic organisms (e.g., coral reefs and seagrass meadows), the range of diel changes in pH can exceed the difference between current conditions and end-of-century OA projections for the open ocean (Hofmann et al, 2011;Duarte et al, 2013). In situ pH manipulations, such as free ocean carbon enrichment (FOCE) experiments (Kline et al, 2012) and studies using natural gradients in pH (e.g., CO 2 vents and tide pools), have shed light the potential for natural variability to influence organismal and community-scale responses to pH reductions (Kroeker et al, 2013;Noisette et al, 2013;Stark et al, 2019). These experiments demonstrate how pH variability can influence the structure and trajectory of calcifier-dominated ecosystems (Kroeker et al, 2013) and can mediate the response of calcifiers to changes in mean pH (Georgiou et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%