Biomaterial Database

Porites' coral calcifying fluid chemistry regulation under normal- and low-pH seawater conditions in Palau Archipelago: Impacts on growth properties. 2024

Marine Canesi, and Éric Douville, and Louise Bordier, and Arnaud Dapoigny, and Gninwoyo Eric Coulibaly, and Paolo Montagna, and Éric Béraud, and Denis Allemand, and Serge Planes, and Paola Furla, and Eric Gilson, and Stephane Roberty, and Didier Zoccola, and Stéphanie Reynaud

Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 911 91 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Centre Scientifique de Monaco, 8 Quai Antoine Ier, 98000 Monaco, Principality of Monaco, Monaco; LIA ROPSE, Laboratoire International Associé Université Côte d'Azur - Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco. Electronic address: marine.canesi@gmail.com.

Ongoing ocean acidification is known to be a major threat to tropical coral reefs. To date, only few studies have evaluated the impacts of natural long-term exposure to low-pH seawater on the chemical regulation and growth of reef-building corals. This work investigated the different responses of the massive Porites coral living at normal (pHsw ~ 8.03) and naturally low-pH (pHsw ~ 7.85) seawater conditions at Palau over the last decades. Our results show that both Porites colonies maintained similar carbonate properties (pHcf, [CO32-]cf, DICcf, and Ωcf) within their calcifying fluid since 1972. However, the Porites skeleton of the more acidified conditions revealed a significantly lower density (~ 1.21 ± 0.09 g·cm-3) than the skeleton from the open-ocean site (~ 1.41 ± 0.07 g·cm-3). Overall, both Porites colonies exerted a strong biological control to maintain stable calcifying fluid carbonate chemistry that favored the calcification process, especially under low-pH conditions. However, the decline in skeletal density observed at low pH provides critical insights into Porites vulnerability to future global change.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002113	Calcification, Physiologic	Process by which organic tissue becomes hardened by the physiologic deposit of calcium salts.	Bone Mineralization,Calcification, Physiological,Physiologic Calcification,Mineralization, Bone,Physiological Calcification
D002254	Carbonates	Salts or ions of the theoretical carbonic acid, containing the radical CO2(3-). Carbonates are readily decomposed by acids. The carbonates of the alkali metals are water-soluble; all others are insoluble. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)	Carbonate
D006863	Hydrogen-Ion Concentration	The normality of a solution with respect to HYDROGEN ions; H+. It is related to acidity measurements in most cases by pH	pH,Concentration, Hydrogen-Ion,Concentrations, Hydrogen-Ion,Hydrogen Ion Concentration,Hydrogen-Ion Concentrations
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012623	Seawater	The salinated water of OCEANS AND SEAS that provides habitat for marine organisms.	Sea Water,Sea Waters,Seawaters,Water, Sea,Waters, Sea
D057894	Coral Reefs	Marine ridges composed of living CORALS, coral skeletons, calcareous algae, and other organisms, mixed with minerals and organic matter. They are found most commonly in tropical waters and support other animal and plant life.	Coral Reef,Reef, Coral,Reefs, Coral
D019029	Palau	A republic consisting of a group of about 100 islands and islets in the western Pacific Ocean. Its capital is Koror. Under Spain it was administered as a part of the Caroline Islands but was sold to Germany in 1899. Seized by Japan in 1914, it was taken by the Allies in World War II in 1944. In 1947 it became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, became internally self-governing in 1980, obtained independent control over its foreign policy (except defense) in 1986, and achieved total independence October 1, 1994. (Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p915; telephone communication with Randy Flynn, Board on Geographic Names, 17 January 1995)
D037421	Anthozoa	A class in the phylum CNIDARIA, comprised mostly of corals and anemones. All members occur only as polyps; the medusa stage is completely absent.	Coral,Corals