15 results
 Pacific Data Hub

Ocean acidification (OA), attributed to the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into the surface ocean, and coastal eutrophication, attributed in part to land-use change and terrestrial runoff of fertilizers, have received recent attention in an experimental framework examining the effects of each on coral reef net ecosystem calcification (Gnet). However, OA and eutrophication in conjunction have yet to receive attention from the perspective of coral reef sediment dissolution.

 Pacific Data Hub

Ocean acidification represents a key threat to coral reefs by reducing the calcification rate of the major reef framework builders. In addition, acidification is likely to affect the important relationship between corals and their symbiotic dinoflagellates, and on the productivity of this association. However, little is known about how acidification impacts on the physiology of key reef builders and how acidification interacts with warming.

 Pacific Data Hub

Ocean acidification and warming are predicted to affect the ability of marine bivalves to build their shells, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Shell formation is an extremely complex process requiring a detailed understanding of biomineralization processes. Sodium incorporation into the shells would increase if bivalves rely on the exchange of Na+/H+ to maintain homeostasis for shell formation, thereby shedding new light on the acid-base and ionic regulation at the calcifying front.

 Pacific Data Hub

Coral reefs are under threat, exerted by a number of interacting effects inherent to the present climate change, including ocean acidification and global warming. Bioerosion drives reef degradation by recycling carbonate skeletal material and is an important but understudied factor in this context.

 Pacific Data Hub

The effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on photosynthesis and calcification in the calcifying algae Halimeda macroloba and Halimeda cylindracea and the symbiont-bearing benthic foraminifera Marginopora vertebralis were investigated through exposure to a combination of four temperatures (28°C, 30°C, 32°C, and 34°C) and four CO2 levels (39, 61, 101, and 203 Pa; pH 8.1, 7.9, 7.7, and 7.4, respectively). Elevated CO2 caused a profound decline in photosynthetic efficiency (FV : FM), calcification, and growth in all species. After five weeks at 34°C under all CO2 levels, all species died.

 Pacific Data Hub

Ocean acidification and greenhouse warming will interactively influence competitive success of key phytoplankton groups such as diatoms, but how long-term responses to global change will affect community structure is unknown. We incubated a mixed natural diatom community from coastal New Zealand waters in a short-term (two-week) incubation experiment using a factorial matrix of warming and/or elevated pCO2 and measured effects on community structure.

 Pacific Data Hub

Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is widely used to disinfect seawater in power plant cooling systems in order to reduce biofouling, and in ballast water treatment systems to prevent transport of exotic marine species. While the toxicity of NaOCl is expected to increase by ongoing ocean acidification, and many experimental studies have shown how algal calcification, photosynthesis and growth respond to ocean acidification, no studies have investigated the relationship between NaOCl toxicity and increased CO2.

 Pacific Data Hub

1.Seaweeds are able to modify the chemical environment at their surface, in a micro‐zone called the diffusive boundary layer (DBL), via their metabolic processes controlled by light intensity. Depending on the thickness of the DBL, sessile invertebrates such as calcifying bryozoans or tube‐forming polychaetes living on the surface of the blades can be affected by the chemical variations occurring in this microlayer.

 Pacific Data Hub

This study investigated the impact of photon flux and elevated CO2 concentrations on growth and photosynthetic electron transport on the marine diatom Chaetoceros muelleri and looked for evidence for the presence of a CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM). pH drift experiments clearly showed that C. muelleri has the capacity to use bicarbonate to acquire inorganic carbon through one or multiple CCMs. The final pH achieved in unbuffered cultures was not changed by light intensity, even under very low photon flux, implying a low energy demand of bicarbonate use via a CCM.

 Pacific Data Hub

Increased CO2 and associated acidification in seawater, known as ocean acidification, decreases calcification of most marine calcifying organisms. However, there is little information available on how marine macroalgae would respond to the chemical changes caused by seawater acidification. We hypothesized that down-regulation of bicarbonate acquisition by algae under increased acidity and CO2 levels would lower the threshold above which photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) becomes excessive.

 Pacific Data Hub

Mg/Ca ratio paleothermometry in foraminifera is an important tool for the reconstruction and interpretation of past environments. However, existing Mg/Ca:temperature relationships for planktic species inhabiting mid- and high- latitude environments are limited by a lack of information about the development and impact of low-Mg/Ca ratio “crusts” and the influence of the carbonate system on Mg/Ca ratios in these groups.

 Pacific Data Hub

Concerns about the impacts of ocean acidification on marine life have mostly focused on how reduced carbonate saturation affects calcifying organisms. Here, we show that levels of CO2-induced acidification that may be attained by 2100 could also have significant effects on marine organisms by reducing their aerobic capacity. The effects of temperature and acidification on oxygen consumption were tested in 2 species of coral reef fishes, Ostorhinchus doederleini and O. cyanosoma, from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

 Pacific Data Hub

Ocean acidification and warming are expected to threaten the persistence of tropical coral reef ecosystems. As coral reefs face multiple stressors, the distribution and abundance of corals will depend on the successful dispersal and settlement of coral larvae under changing environmental conditions. To explore this scenario, we used metabolic rate, at holobiont and molecular levels, as an index for assessing the physiological plasticity of Pocillopora damicornis larvae from this site to conditions of ocean acidity and warming.

 Pacific Data Hub

By the end of the century coral reefs likely will be affected negatively by ocean acidification (OA), but both the effects of OA on coral communities and the crossed effects of OA with other physical environmental variables are lacking. One of the least considered physical parameters is water flow, which is surprising considering its strong role in modulating the physiology of reef organisms and communities. In the present study, the effects of flow were tested on coral reef communities maintained in outdoor flumes under ambient pCO2 and high pCO2 (1300 $μ$atm).

 Pacific Data Hub

Two of the major threats to coral reefs are increasing sea surface temperature and ocean acidification, both of which result from rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Recent evidence suggests that both increased water temperature and elevated levels of dissolved CO2 can change the behaviors of fishes in ways that reduce individual fitness, however the interacting effects of these variables are unknown.