The Questionable Authority : Coralline Algae and Global Warming

 

Over the last couple of decades, a great deal of research has been done on the effect of global warming on coral reefs. The vast majority of that research has focused on the currently observed and potential future effects of climate change on reef-building corals. Coral, however, are not the only organisms that contribute to building a reef. A group of organisms known as the "coralline algae" also secrete calcium carbonate, and contribute to building up reefs. In a paper available online in advance of publication at Nature Geoscience, a group of researchers report on the results of an experiment conducted to observe what will happen to coralline algae by the year 2100 if atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide continue to rise at the present rate.

The experiment was carried out at the Hawaii Institute for Marine Biology's Coconut Island facility. The HIMB facility is extremely well suited to this kind of experiment, because it's location and facilities make it relatively easy to set up well-controlled experiments. Coconut Island is located in Kaneohe Bay, and is surrounded by a coral reef. There are both indoor and outdoor lab facilities available there, some of which are located within 10 meters of the reef, and the island has a seawater system that draws water directly from the reef. As a result, it's a lot easier to set up an experiment where you want to look at the effects of a change in one parameter on a reef environment at HIMB than it is in most other locations

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More Acidic Ocean Hurts Reef Algae as Well as Corals - New York Times

 

The gradual acidification of the oceans, a result of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is thought to be bad for coral reefs. The absorption of CO₂ by seawater leads to lower saturation levels of carbonate ions, which reduces calcification, the process by which corals make their hard skeletons.

But it takes more than coral to make a coral reef. And a new study shows that ocean acidification may be bad for another important reef builder, crustose coralline algae.

These organisms act like a mortar to help hold reefs together and otherwise aid reef ecology. Like corals, they secrete calcium carbonate. So Ilsa B. Kuffner of the United States Geological Survey in St. Petersburg, Fla., and colleagues set out to see whether higher ocean pH would affect them. They reported their findings in Nature Geoscience.

Read Full Article: More Acidic Ocean Hurts Reef Algae as Well as Corals - New York Times