Water circulation, and not ocean acidification, affects coral recruitment and survival at shallow hydrothermal vents

Oprandi, Alice; Montefalcone, Monica; Morri, Carla; Benelli, F.; Bianchi, Carlo Nike

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2018.11.017

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…16%) and only a few Poritidae. This is in agreement with previous studies showing that Acroporidae and other broadcasting corals have high recruitment rates, especially in low watercirculation systems like Bouraké (Oprandi et al, 2019). The dominance of branching morphologies (Acroporidae and Pocilloporidae) may be due to their ability to compete with vertical CCA growth for space in light-limited environments (Jorissen et al, 2020).…”

Section: Shift Between Cca and Turf Algaesupporting

confidence: 92%

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

et al. 2022

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The crucial role of crustose coralline algae (CCA) in inducing hard coral larval settlement and ensuring the replenishment of coral reefs is widely accepted, and so are the negative effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on both CCA abundance and coral development. However, diversified and well-developed coral reef communities have been recently discovered in natural conditions where CCA and corals would not be expected to thrive. Back-reef pools, volcanic CO2 vents, mangrove estuaries, and semi-enclosed lagoons systems can present seawater pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen values reaching or even exceeding the conditions currently predicted by the Inter Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for 2100. In the semi-enclosed lagoon of Bouraké (New Caledonia, southwest Pacific Ocean), seawater pHT, dissolved oxygen, and temperatures regularly fluctuate with the tide reaching respectively minimum values of 7.23 pHT units, 2.28 mg O2 L-1, and maximum of 33.85°C. This study reports the effect of such extreme environmental conditions on hard coral recruitment and CCA originally settled at a forereef on artificial substrates that were transplanted over two years in two fringing reef and at the Bouraké lagoon. Our data emphasize the negative effects of the extreme conditions in our study sites on the CCA, which decreased in cover by ca. 80% and lost in the competition with turf algae, which, in turn, increased up to 162% at the end of the two years. Conversely, hard coral recruitment remained high at Bouraké throughout the study, three-fold higher than at two sites located outside Bouraké where environmental conditions were typical for coastal fringing reefs. Our findings show that while such extreme, climate change like-conditions have a direct and adverse effect on CCA abundance, and despite a certain persistence, coral larvae settlement was not affected. Based on previous findings from Bouraké, and the present observations, both coral recruits and adults seem to be unaffected despite the extreme environmental conditions. This study supports previous research illustrating how extreme natural and variable environments may reveal unexpected and positive insights on the processes underlying coral acclimatization and adaptation to global change.

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Section: Shift Between Cca and Turf Algaesupporting

confidence: 92%

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

et al. 2022

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“…However, a recent study of a volcanically acidified vent site documented pronounced resilience of some coral colonies that are periodically exposed to extreme low pH (frequently\7.0). The persistence of these corals was likely related to rapid flushing of low pH waters during tidal cycles, indicating that temporal dynamics in stress exposure can strongly influence response patterns (Enochs et al 2020; see also Oprandi et al 2019).…”

Section: Volcanic Co 2 Ventsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…To date, volcanic CO 2 vent studies for tropical coral reefs have focused on a small number of geographic regions within the Pacific, including Papua New Guinea (Fabricius et al 2011), Indonesia (Oprandi et al 2019), Japan (Inoue et al 2013), and the Mariana Islands (Enochs et al 2015), but the first ecological assessment of volcanically acidified coral reef in the Caribbean was recently described (Enochs et al 2020), and non-volcanic CO 2 vents at fault lines are being discovered in other parts of the tropics (e.g., Oporto-Guerrero et al 2018). This suggests that our understanding of the patterns and processes governing reef communities in naturally acidified environments will continue to improve with expanded geographic scope.…”

Section: Volcanic Co 2 Ventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights from extreme coral reefs in a changing world

et al. 2020

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Coral reefs are one of the most biodiverse and economically important ecosystems in the world, but they are rapidly degrading due to the effects of global climate change and local anthropogenic stressors. Reef scientists are increasingly studying coral reefs that occur in marginal and extreme environments to understand how organisms respond to, and cope with, environmental stress, and to gain insight into how reef organisms may acclimate or adapt to future environmental change. To date, there have been more than 860 publications describing the biology and/or abiotic conditions of marginal and extreme reef environments, most of which were published within the past decade. These include systems characterized by unusually high, low, and/or variable temperatures (intertidal, lagoonal, high-latitude areas, and shallow seas), turbid or urban environments, acidified habitats, and mesophotic depth, and focus on reefs geographically spread throughout most of the tropics. The papers in this special issue of Coral Reefs, entitled Coral Reefs in a Changing World: Insights from Extremes, build on the growing body of literature on these unique and important ecosystems, providing a deeper understanding of the patterns and processes governing life in marginal reef systems, and the implications that these insights may have for the future of tropical coral reefs in our rapidly changing world.

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“…Ocean acidity has increased by approximately 25% (decrease of 0.1pH units) since pre-industrial times [10] and further acidification is expected to result in severe negative effects on calcifying marine organisms [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Calcification rates of reef building corals are estimated to decrease up to 15-20% by the end of the century due to ocean acidification alone [3,14,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] although, field studies have revealed that abiotic and biotic factors in the marine environment may mask the effect of ocean acidification on corals, obscuring its detection [26][27][28], and biological feedbacks may complicate such predictions [29]. With observed increases in the frequency and severity of massive coral bleaching events alongside increases in ocean acidity, many predict that reefs may collapse within the next few decades [4,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance, size, and survival of recruits of the reef coral Pocillopora acuta under ocean warming and acidification

et al. 2020

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Ocean warming and acidification are among the greatest threats to coral reefs. Massive coral bleaching events are becoming increasingly common and are predicted to be more severe and frequent in the near future, putting corals reefs in danger of ecological collapse. This study quantified the abundance, size, and survival of the coral Pocillopora acuta under future projections of ocean warming and acidification. Flow-through mesocosms were exposed to current and future projections of ocean warming and acidification in a factorial design for 22 months. Neither ocean warming or acidification, nor their combination, influenced the size or abundance of P. acuta recruits, but heating impacted subsequent health and survival of the recruits. During annual maximum temperatures, coral recruits in heated tanks experienced higher levels of bleaching and subsequent mortality. Results of this study indicate that P. acuta is able to recruit under projected levels of ocean warming and acidification but are susceptible to bleaching and mortality during the warmest months.

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Water circulation, and not ocean acidification, affects coral recruitment and survival at shallow hydrothermal vents

Cited by 13 publications

References 42 publications

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

High Coral Recruitment Despite Coralline Algal Loss Under Extreme Environmental Conditions

Insights from extreme coral reefs in a changing world

Abundance, size, and survival of recruits of the reef coral Pocillopora acuta under ocean warming and acidification

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