Influence of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii on coral reef mesocosms exposed to ocean acidification and experimentally elevated temperatures
| Autor: | Pi-Jen Liu, Shin-Jing Ang, Anderson B. Mayfield, Hsing-Juh Lin |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Environmental Engineering
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Coral Climate Change Pocillopora damicornis Hydrocharitaceae 010501 environmental sciences 01 natural sciences Environmental Chemistry Animals Ecosystem Seawater Waste Management and Disposal Reef 0105 earth and related environmental sciences geography geography.geographical_feature_category biology Ecology Coral Reefs Temperature Ocean acidification Coral reef Hydrogen-Ion Concentration biology.organism_classification Anthozoa Pollution Seagrass Environmental science Ecosystem respiration |
| Zdroj: | The Science of the total environment. 700 |
| ISSN: | 1879-1026 |
| Popis: | Ocean acidification (OA) and warming currently threaten coastal ecosystems across the globe. However, it is possible that the former process could actually benefit marine plants, such as seagrasses. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the effects of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii can increase the resilience of OA-challenged coral reef mesocosms whose temperatures were gradually elevated. It was found that seagrass shoot density, photosynthetic efficiency, and leaf growth rate actually increased with rising temperatures under OA. Macroalgal growth rates were higher in the seagrass-free mesocosms, but the calcification rate of the model reef coral Pocillopora damicornis was higher in coral reef mesocosms featuring seagrasses under OA at 25 and 28 °C. Both the macroalgal growth rate and the coral calcification rate decreased in all mesocosms when the temperature was raised to 31 °C under OA. However, the variation in gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, and net ecosystem production in the seagrass mesocosms was lower than in seagrass-free controls, suggesting that the presence of seagrass in the mesocosms helped to stabilize the metabolism of the system in response to simulated climate change. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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