Meyer, Friedrich Wilhelm, Vogel, Nikolas, Teichberg, Mirta, Uthicke, Sven and Wild, Christian (2015) The Physiological Response of Two Green Calcifying Algae from the Great Barrier Reef towards High Dissolved Inorganic and Organic Carbon (DIC and DOC) Availability. PLOS ONE, 10 (8). e0133596. DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133596.

Text Meyer 2015.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0. Download (2MB)

Abstract

Increasing dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations associated with ocean acidification can affect marine calcifiers, but local factors, such as high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations through sewage and algal blooms, may interact with this global factor. For calcifying green algae of the genus Halimeda, a key tropical carbonate producer that often occurs in coral reefs, no studies on these interactions have been reported. These data are however urgently needed to understand future carbonate production. Thus, we investigated the independent and combined effects of DIC (pCO2 402 μatm/ pHtot 8.0 and 996 μatm/ pHtot 7.7) and DOC (added as glucose in 0 and 294 μmol L-1) on growth, calcification and photosynthesis of H. macroloba and H. opuntia from the Great Barrier Reef in an incubation experiment over 16 days. High DIC concentrations significantly reduced dark calcification of H. opuntia by 130 % and led to net dissolution, but did not affect H. macroloba. High DOC concentrations significantly reduced daily oxygen production of H. opuntia and H. macroloba by 78 % and 43 %, respectively, and significantly reduced dark calcification of H. opuntia by 70%. Combined high DIC and DOC did not show any interactive effects for both algae, but revealed additive effects for H. opuntia where the combination of both factors reduced dark calcification by 162 % compared to controls. Such species-specific differences in treatment responses indicate H. opuntia is more susceptible to a combination of high DIC and DOC than H. macroloba. From an ecological perspective, results further suggest a reduction of primary production for Halimeda-dominated benthic reef communities under high DOC concentrations and additional decreases of carbonate accretion under elevated DIC concentrations, where H. opuntia dominates the benthic community. This may reduce biogenic carbonate sedimentation rates and hence the buffering capacity against further ocean acidification.

Document Type:	Article
Programme Area:	UNSPECIFIED
Research affiliation:	Ecology > Algae and Seagrass Ecology Ecology > Experimental Aquaculture Ecology
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	Yes
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133596
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2019 17:14
Last Modified:	26 Mar 2024 13:29
URI:	http://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/2442

Actions (login required)

View Item