Ocean Acidification has Impacted Coral Growth on the Great Barrier Reef
Type
ArticleAuthors
Guo, Weifu
Bokade, Rohit

Cohen, Anne L.

Mollica, Nathaniel R.
Leung, Muriel
Brainard, Russell E.
KAUST Department
Now at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Red Sea Research Center Thuwal Saudi ArabiaRed Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2020-09-25Online Publication Date
2020-09-25Print Publication Date
2020-10-16Embargo End Date
2021-02-27Submitted Date
2019-12-26Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664990
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Ocean acidification (OA) reduces the concentration of seawater carbonate ions that stony corals need to produce their calcium carbonate skeletons, and is considered a significant threat to the functional integrity of coral reef ecosystems. However, detection and attribution of OA impact on corals in nature are confounded by concurrent environmental changes, including ocean warming. Here we use a numerical model to isolate the effects of OA and temperature, and show that OA alone has caused 13±3% decline in the skeletal density of massive Porites corals on the Great Barrier Reef since 1950. This OA-induced thinning of coral skeletons, also evident in Porites from the South China Sea but not in the central equatorial Pacific, reflects enhanced acidification of reef water relative to the surrounding open ocean. Our finding reinforces concerns that even corals that might survive multiple heatwaves are structurally weakened and increasingly vulnerable to the compounding effects of climate change.Citation
Guo, W., Bokade, R., Cohen, A. L., Mollica, N. R., Leung, M., & Brainard, R. E. (2020). Ocean Acidification has Impacted Coral Growth on the Great Barrier Reef. Geophysical Research Letters. doi:10.1029/2019gl086761Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Journal
Geophysical Research LettersAdditional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL086761ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1029/2019gl086761