Size-dependent physiological responses of the branching coral<i>Pocillopora verrucosa</i>to elevated temperature and<i>P</i>CO2

Edmunds, Peter J.; Burgess, Scott C.

doi:10.1242/jeb.146381

Cited by 29 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…We cut multiple colonies (each * 12 cm in diameter) from each head to enable the study of large individuals of the same genotype in each treatment. Small experimental colonies do not provide accurate estimates of the physiological performance of larger colonies, even when area-normalised (Edmunds and Burgess 2016). In both experiments, corals were cultured at seawater pCO 2 of * 180 latm (the CO 2 atmosphere during the last glacial maximum, Petit et al 1999), * 400 latm (the present day) and * 750 latm (projected to occur by the end of the present century, IPCC 2013).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of seawater pCO2 and temperature on calcification and productivity in the coral genus Porites spp.: an exploration of potential interaction mechanisms

et al. 2018

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Understanding how rising seawater pCO 2 and temperatures impact coral aragonite accretion is essential for predicting the future of reef ecosystems. Here, we report 2 long-term (10-11 month) studies assessing the effects of temperature (25 and 28°C) and both high and low seawater pCO 2 (180-750 latm) on the calcification, photosynthesis and respiration of individual massive Porites spp. genotypes. Calcification rates were highly variable between genotypes, but high seawater pCO 2 reduced calcification significantly in 4 of 7 genotypes cultured at 25°C but in only 1 of 4 genotypes cultured at 28°C. Increasing seawater temperature enhanced calcification in almost all corals, but the magnitude of this effect was seawater pCO 2 dependent. The 3°C temperature increase enhanced calcification rate on average by 3% at 180 latm, by 35% at 260 latm and by [ 300% at 750 latm. The rate increase at high seawater pCO 2 exceeds that observed in inorganic aragonites. Responses of gross/net photosynthesis and respiration to temperature and seawater pCO 2 varied between genotypes, but rates of all these processes were reduced at the higher seawater temperature. Increases in seawater temperature, below the thermal stress threshold, may mitigate against ocean acidification in this coral genus, but this moderation is not mediated by an increase in net photosynthesis. The response of coral calcification to temperature cannot be explained by symbiont productivity or by thermodynamic and kinetic influences on aragonite formation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of seawater pCO2 and temperature on calcification and productivity in the coral genus Porites spp.: an exploration of potential interaction mechanisms

et al. 2018

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“…2014 ; Sawall et al. 2015 ; Edmunds and Burgess 2016 ), phylogenetics ( Flot et al. 2008 , 2011 ; Pinzón et al.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

The Genome of the Cauliflower Coral Pocillopora verrucosa

Buitrago-López

Mariappan

Cárdenas

et al. 2020

Genome Biology and Evolution

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Climate change and ocean warming threaten the persistence of corals worldwide. Genomic resources are critical to study the evolutionary trajectory, adaptive potential, and genetic distinctiveness of coral species. Here we provide a reference genome of the cauliflower coral Pocillopora verrucosa, a broadly prevalent reef-building coral with important ecological roles in the maintenance of reefs across the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. The genome has an assembly size of 380,505,698 bp with a scaffold N50 of 333,696 bp and a contig N50 of 75,704 bp. The annotation of the assembled genome returned 27,439 gene models of which 89.88% have evidence of transcription from RNA-Seq data and 97.87% show homology to known genes. A high proportion of the genome (41.22%) is comprised of repetitive elements in comparison to other cnidarian genomes, in particular in relation to the small genome size of P. verrucosa.

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“…Consideration of larger colonies (i.e. >4-cm diameter) in arrayed in differing densities could be important, because larger colonies are functionally unequal to smaller colonies in the way that they respond to P CO2 (Edmunds and Burgess, 2016). Some of these effects are likely to be caused by selfshading for larger colonies, which would in turn influence photosynthesis, and could result in mass flux limitation for shaded colonies within aggregations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conspecific aggregations mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on calcification of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa

Evensen

Edmunds

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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In densely populated communities, such as coral reefs, organisms can modify the physical and chemical environment for neighbouring individuals. We tested the hypothesis that colony density (12 colonies each placed ∼0.5 cm apart versus ∼8 cm apart) can modulate the physiological response (measured through rates of calcification, photosynthesis and respiration in the light and dark) of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa to partial pressure of CO 2 (P CO2 ) treatments (∼400 μatm and ∼1200 μatm) by altering the seawater flow regimes experienced by colonies placed in aggregations within a flume at a single flow speed. While light calcification decreased 20% under elevated versus ambient P CO2 for colonies in low-density aggregations, light calcification of high-density aggregations increased 23% at elevated versus ambient P CO2 . As a result, densely aggregated corals maintained calcification rates over 24 h that were comparable to those maintained under ambient P CO2 , despite a 45% decrease in dark calcification at elevated versus ambient P CO2 . Additionally, densely aggregated corals experienced reduced flow speeds and higher seawater retention times between colonies owing to the formation of eddies. These results support recent indications that neighbouring organisms, such as the conspecific coral colonies in the present example, can create smallscale refugia from the negative effects of ocean acidification.

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Size-dependent physiological responses of the branching coralPocillopora verrucosato elevated temperature andPCO2

Cited by 29 publications

References 90 publications

Effects of seawater pCO2 and temperature on calcification and productivity in the coral genus Porites spp.: an exploration of potential interaction mechanisms

Effects of seawater pCO2 and temperature on calcification and productivity in the coral genus Porites spp.: an exploration of potential interaction mechanisms

The Genome of the Cauliflower Coral Pocillopora verrucosa

Conspecific aggregations mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on calcification of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa

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