Microelectrode characterization of coral daytime interior pH and carbonate chemistry

Wei-Jun Cai (), Yuening Ma, Brian M. Hopkinson, Andréa G. Grottoli, Mark E. Warner, Qian Ding, Xinping Hu, Xiangchen Yuan, Verena Schoepf, Hui Xu, Chenhua Han, Todd F. Melman, Kenneth D. Hoadley, D. Tye Pettay, Yohei Matsui, Justin H. Baumann, Stephen Levas, Ye Ying and Yongchen Wang
Additional contact information
Wei-Jun Cai: School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
Yuening Ma: School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
Brian M. Hopkinson: University of Georgia
Andréa G. Grottoli: School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Mark E. Warner: School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
Qian Ding: University of Georgia
Xinping Hu: University of Georgia
Xiangchen Yuan: University of Georgia
Verena Schoepf: School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Hui Xu: University of Georgia
Chenhua Han: University of Georgia
Todd F. Melman: Reef Systems Coral Farm
Kenneth D. Hoadley: School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
D. Tye Pettay: School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
Yohei Matsui: School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Justin H. Baumann: School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Stephen Levas: School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University
Ye Ying: Ocean College, Zhejiang University
Yongchen Wang: University of Georgia

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Reliably predicting how coral calcification may respond to ocean acidification and warming depends on our understanding of coral calcification mechanisms. However, the concentration and speciation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) inside corals remain unclear, as only pH has been measured while a necessary second parameter to constrain carbonate chemistry has been missing. Here we report the first carbonate ion concentration ([CO32−]) measurements together with pH inside corals during the light period. We observe sharp increases in [CO32−] and pH from the gastric cavity to the calcifying fluid, confirming the existence of a proton (H+) pumping mechanism. We also show that corals can achieve a high aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) in the calcifying fluid by elevating pH while at the same time keeping [DIC] low. Such a mechanism may require less H+-pumping and energy for upregulating pH compared with the high [DIC] scenario and thus may allow corals to be more resistant to climate change related stressors.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11144 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11144

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11144

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().