The link to the original article is http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1122.html

by Katharina E. Fabricius, Chris Langdon, Sven Uthicke, Craig Humphrey, Sam Noonan, Glenn De’ath, Remy Okazaki, Nancy Muehllehner, Martin S. Glas & Janice M. Lough

Reference: Fabricius KE, Langdon C, Uthicke S, Humphrey C, Noonan S, De’ath G, Okazaki R, Muehllehner N, Glas M, Lough JM (2011) Losers and winners in coral reefs acclimatized to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. Nature Climate Change 1: 165-169

Published online 29 May 2011

Experiments have shown that ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations has deleterious effects on the performance of many marine organisms1, 2, 3, 4. However, few empirical or modelling studies have addressed the long-term consequences of ocean acidification for marine ecosystems5, 6, 7. Here we show that as pH declines from 8.1 to 7.8 (the change expected if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase from 390 to 750 ppm, consistent with some scenarios for the end of this century) some organisms benefit, but many more lose out. We investigated coral reefs, seagrasses and sediments that are acclimatized to low pH at three cool and shallow volcanic carbon dioxide seeps in Papua New Guinea. At reduced pH, we observed reductions in coral diversity, recruitment and abundances of structurally complex framework builders, and shifts in competitive interactions between taxa. However, coral cover remained constant between pH 8.1 and ~7.8, because massive Porites corals established dominance over structural corals, despite low rates of calcification. Reef development ceased below pH 7.7. Our empirical data from this unique field setting confirm model predictions that ocean acidification, together with temperature stress, will probably lead to severely reduced diversity, structural complexity and resilience of Indo-Pacific coral reefs within this century.

Affiliations

Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
Katharina E. Fabricius,
Sven Uthicke,
Craig Humphrey,
Sam Noonan,
Glenn De’ath &
Janice M. Lough
University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Florida 33149, USA
Chris Langdon,
Remy Okazaki &
Nancy Muehllehner
Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Department of Biogeochemistry, Celsiusstr. 1, 28395 Bremen, Germany
Martin S. Glas

Contributions

All authors were involved with either fieldwork or data analyses. K.E.F. initiated and designed the study and wrote the manuscript, with contributions from all others. C.L. and R.O. analysed the seawater chemistry, C.H., S.N., K.E.F. and J.M.L. collected and analysed the Porites data, C.L. the in situ coral growth data, K.E.F. and S.N. the reef community data, S.U. the sediments and foraminifera, N.M. and S.U. the seagrass and epibiont data, and G.D. and K.E.F. conducted the statistical analyses.
Competing financial interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Correspondence to: Katharina E. Fabricius