Coral growth along a natural gradient of seawater temperature, pH, and oxygen in a nearshore seagrass bed on Dongsha Atoll, Taiwan.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs are facing threats from a variety of global change stressors, including ocean warming, acidification, and deoxygenation. It has been hypothesized that growing corals near primary producers such as macroalgae or seagrass may help to ameliorate acidification and deoxygenation stress, however few studies have explored this effect in situ. Here, we investigated differences in coral growth rates across a natural gradient in seawater temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) variability in a nearshore seagrass bed on Dongsha Atoll, Taiwan, South China Sea. We observed strong spatial gradients in temperature (5°C), pH (0.29 pH units), and DO (129 μmol O2 kg-1) across the 1-kilometer wide seagrass bed. Similarly, diel variability recorded by an autonomous sensor in the shallow seagras

SUBMITTER: Pezner AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11498697 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature