Low recruitment due to altered settlement substrata as primary constraint for coral communities under ocean acidification.

ABSTRACT: The future of coral reefs under increasing CO₂ depends on their capacity to recover from disturbances. To predict the recovery potential of coral communities that are fully acclimatized to elevated CO₂, we compared the relative success of coral recruitment and later life stages at two volcanic CO₂ seeps and adjacent control sites in Papua New Guinea. Our field experiments showed that the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on coral recruitment rates were up to an order of magnitude greater than the effects on the survival and growth of established corals. Settlement rates, recruit and juvenile densities were best predicted by the presence of crustose coralline algae, as opposed to the direct effects of seawater CO₂ Offspring from high CO₂

SUBMITTER: Fabricius KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5597843 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature