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Increased temperature mitigates the effects of ocean acidification on the calcification of juvenile Pocillopora damicornis, but at a cost

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Abstract

This study tested the interactive effects of increased seawater temperature and CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) on the photochemistry, bleaching, and early growth of the reef coral Pocillopora damicornis. New recruits were maintained at ambient or high temperature (29 or 30.8 °C) and pCO2 (~ 500 and ~ 1100 μatm) in a full-factorial experiment for 3 weeks. Neither a sharp decline in photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) nor evident bleaching was observed at high temperature and/or high pCO2. Furthermore, elevated temperature greatly promoted lateral growth and calcification, while polyp budding exhibited temperature-dependent responses to pCO2. High pCO2 depressed calcification by 28% at ambient temperature, but did not impact calcification at 30.8 °C. Interestingly, elevated temperature in concert with high pCO2 significantly retarded the budding process. These results suggest that increased temperature can mitigate the adverse effects of acidification on the calcification of juvenile P. damicornis, but at a substantial cost to asexual budding.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1301232 and 41206140), Science and Technology Service Network Initiative (KFJ-EW-STS-123) and Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (2014B030301064). We are grateful to Dr. Paul Cooper and the reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments that vastly improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Lei Jiang, Fang Zhang, Ming-Lan Guo, Ya-Juan Guo, Yu-Yang Zhang, Guo-Wei Zhou, Jian-Sheng Lian & Hui Huang

  2. Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, CAS, Sanya, 572000, China

    Lei Jiang, Fang Zhang, Ya-Juan Guo, Guo-Wei Zhou & Hui Huang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lei Jiang, Fang Zhang & Ya-Juan Guo

  4. Shenzhen Research Institute and Division of Life Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Lin Cai & Pei-Yuan Qian

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  1. Lei Jiang
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  2. Fang Zhang
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Jiang, L., Zhang, F., Guo, ML. et al. Increased temperature mitigates the effects of ocean acidification on the calcification of juvenile Pocillopora damicornis, but at a cost. Coral Reefs 37, 71–79 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-017-1634-1

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