Rebecca Albright article on Elkhorn coral and acidification

[Ed Hahn]

Ocean Acidification May Halt Coral Reproduction
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/f625ecb71a]


Elkhorn Coral, Acropora palmata, the iconic Caribbean stony coral.

Image: Evan D'Alessandro, University of Miami.

As reef aquarists know all too well, things start to go mysteriously
wrong in a system with sinking pH and growing acidity. Now coral reef
researchers have demonstrated that increases in ocean acidity may
severely curtail the sexual reproductive success of stony corals.


I found this interesting because of a article I read years ago how corals compete for territory by reproduction. The article I read was about a pavona coral.


A new study
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/3019a9ba41]
led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel
School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/fa2a6b5244]
suggests that over the next
century recruitment of new stony corals could drop by 73 percent, as
rising CO2 levels turn the oceans more acidic. The research findings reveal
yet another ominous factor for the already threatened Caribbean and
Florida reef Elkhorn Corals.

"Ocean acidification is widely viewed as an emerging threat to coral
reefs," said Rosenstiel School graduate student Rebecca Albright,
right, who did the study with Dr. Chris Langdon. "Our
study is one of the first to document the impacts of ocean
acidification
on coral recruitment."

Albright and colleagues report that ocean acidification could
compromise the successful fertilization, larval settlement, and
survivorship of Elkhorn Corals.
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/f405ec80b2]
The research results suggest that ocean
acidification could severely impact the ability of coral reefs to
recover from bleaching events and other disturbances, said the
authors.

Elkhorn Coral, known as Acropora palmata, is recognized as a critical
reef-building species that once dominated tropical coral reef
ecosystems. In 2006, Elkhorn was included on the U.S. Endangered
Species
List largely due to severe population declines over the past several
decades.

The absorption of carbon dioxide by seawater, which results in a
decline in pH level, is generally termed ocean acidification. The
increased
acidity of seawater is felt throughout the marine food web as
calcifying organisms, such as corals, oysters and sea urchins, find it

more difficult to build their shells and skeletons making them more
susceptible to predation and damage.

Recent studies, such as this one conducted by Albright and
colleagues, are beginning to reveal how ocean acidification also
affects
non-calcifying stages of marine organisms
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/bf881c8360]
, such as reproduction.

"Reproductive failure of young coral species is an increasing concern
since reefs are already highly stressed from bleaching, hurricanes,
disease and poor water quality," said Chris Langdon, associate
professor
at the Rosenstiel School and co-author of the study.

"Ocean acidification compromises recruitment success of
the threatened Caribbean coral Acropora palmata," appears in
the Nov. 9 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(PNAS).

[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/fcb0358b91]

Read more and link to a video interview with Rebecca Albright at the
Rosensteil School.
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAquariumExp/1f0e2a02bf/09f3f762a5/38e8a21088]

 

[mojoreef]

Hmm I always tend to take these articles from the view point of "We need more more for research" standpoint, but let me read through them tonite.

Good post Ed

 

[Herefishyfishy]

All links came up broken with the following message:

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[Herefishyfishy]

I used to love skin diving through forests of these magnificent colonies in coral reefs off Baja. They have been decimated from White pox, white line, and other opportunistic diseases that weakened colonies appear susceptible to. Appears rising temp and Ph are the main culprits. Here are a few links about these threatened species that are a very important member in North America's coral reefs

New Ocean Acidification Study Shows Added Danger to Already Struggling Reefs

New ocean acidification study shows added danger to already struggling coral reefs

Acidification May Halve Coral Class of 2050 - US News and World Report

 

[FreakinReefin]

All links came up broken with the following message:

"Bad URL - The URL you are attempting to reach does not exist.
If you are an iBuilder customer and clicking a link from within a TEST email, be sure that you are viewing your most current test email as links are recreated with each new test. Also, be aware that links from within TEST emails are deactivated once you launch your campaign. "


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The links just need to be edited to not include the "]" at beginning and the end.

i.e.: http://cts.vresp.com/c/?MicrocosmAqu...a5/f625ecb71a

 

[mojoreef]

I dont want to deminish the study but Florida reefs are kind of a special case, and its reaally hard to take this study as something that is a world wide thing.
Reefs in Florida suffer from so many big things.

>First the reefs have been getting bombed for ions from sands off the Sahara, which have drifted off the African coast.These have wiped out massive parts of the reefs and have created Food chain issues, which is short for evasive critters like Urchins to run rampant further hurting that reef system.

>Then you have runoff from local swamps. They came out with studies saying it should be blocked, so they did. Then they did studies that said it should be opened, so they did and all the stored up nutrients poored in.

>The you have the fact that that whole area is like the worlds largest deep sand bed, and from time to time it has some of the nastiest nutrient burps you can imagine, killing everything around it. Then the odd hurracane blows through and mixes up the different layers of the bed (which is a good thing for the eco system) and wipes a bunch of stuff out.

> Then you start to take into concideration the man made issues with runoff and pollution.

> mix in a little bit of reef types (sea grass, lagoonal, high energy) bumpping heads and looking to expand eco systems and its a tough place to be a reef.

What has been interesting their and in other places like the Great Barrier is the ability of the reef to relocate and assimulate to different locations. In the Florida area they have found new young reefs as high up the coast as Miami. And in the great barrier reef they discovered a reef system (some say as large as the barrier) on the opposite side of Aus. and about 200 feet deeper??


So is it an issue, sure I think its logical to assume that it plays a role. How it will play out and how the reefs will adjust?? that remains to be seen, they have been around for a while and have been through an event or two (ice age, eruptions, things falling from space)

Mojo