Seawater carbonate chemistry and processes during an experiment with coral reef, 2000

DOI

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is projected to reach twice the preindustrial level by the middle of the 21st century. This increase will reduce the concentration of [CO3]2- of the surface ocean by 30% relative to the preindustrial level and will reduce the calcium carbonate saturation state of the surface ocean by an equal percentage. Using the large 2650 m3 coral reef mesocosm at the BIOSPHERE-2 facility near Tucson, Arizona, we investigated the effect of the projected changes in seawater carbonate chemistry on the calcification of coral reef organisms at the community scale. Our experimental design was to obtain a long (3.8 years) time series of the net calcification of the complete system and all relevant physical and chemical variables (temperature, salinity, light, nutrients, Ca2+,pCO2, TCO2, and total alkalinity). Periodic additions of NaHCO3, Na2CO3, and/or CaCl2 were made to change the calcium carbonate saturation state of the water. We found that there were consistent and reproducible changes in the rate of calcification in response to our manipulations of the saturation state. We show that the net community calcification rate responds to manipulations in the concentrations of both Ca2+ and [CO3]2- and that the rate is well described as a linear function of the ion concentration product, [Ca2+]0.69[[CO3]2-]. This suggests that saturation state or a closely related quantity is a primary environmental factor that influences calcification on coral reefs at the ecosystem level. We compare the sensitivity of calcification to short-term (days) and long-term (months to years) changes in saturation state and found that the response was not significantly different. This indicates that coral reef organisms do not seem to be able to acclimate to changing saturation state. The predicted decrease in coral reef calcification between the years 1880 and 2065 A.D. based on our long-term results is 40%. Previous small-scale, short-term organismal studies predicted a calcification reduction of 14-30%. This much longer, community-scale study suggests that the impact on coral reefs may be greater than previously suspected. In the next century coral reefs will be less able to cope with rising sea level and other anthropogenic stresses.

In order to allow full comparability with other ocean acidification data sets, the R package seacarb (Lavigne and Gattuso, 2011) was used to compute a complete and consistent set of carbonate system variables, as described by Nisumaa et al. (2010). In this dataset the original values were archived in addition with the recalculated parameters (see related PI).

Supplement to: Langdon, Chris; Takahashi, Taro; Sweeney, Colm; Chipman, D W; Goddard, J G; Marubini, Francesca; Aceves, Heather; Barnett, Heidi; Atkinson, M J (2000): Effect of calcium carbonate saturation state on the calcification rate of an experimental coral reef. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 14(4), 639-354

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.721195
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GB001195
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.721195
Provenance
Creator Langdon, Chris ORCID logo; Takahashi, Taro; Sweeney, Colm ORCID logo; Chipman, D W; Goddard, J G; Marubini, Francesca; Aceves, Heather; Barnett, Heidi; Atkinson, M J
Publisher PANGAEA
Contributor Nisumaa, Anne-Marin
Publication Year 2000
Funding Reference Seventh Framework Programme https://doi.org/10.13039/100011102 Crossref Funder ID 211384 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/211384 European Project on Ocean Acidification; Sixth Framework Programme https://doi.org/10.13039/100011103 Crossref Funder ID 511106 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/511106 European network of excellence for Ocean Ecosystems Analysis
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Dataset; Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 1008 data points
Discipline Earth System Research