Abstract
Red calcareous coralline algae are thought to be among the organisms most
vulnerable to ocean acidification due to the high solubility of their
magnesium calcite skeleton. Although skeletal mineralogy is proposed to
change as CO2 and temperature continue to rise, there is currently very
little information available on the response of coralline algal carbonate
mineralogy to near-future changes in pCO2 and temperature. Here we
present results from a 1-year controlled laboratory experiment to test
mineralogical responses to pCO2 and temperature in the Mediterranean
crustose coralline alga (CCA) Lithophyllum cabiochae. Our results show that Mg incorporation is
mainly constrained by temperature (+1 mol % MgCO3 for an increase
of 3 °C), and there was no response to pCO2. This suggests that
L. cabiochae thalli have the ability to buffer their calcifying medium against ocean
acidification, thereby enabling them to continue to deposit magnesium calcite with
a significant mol % MgCO3 under elevated pCO2. Analyses of CCA
dissolution chips showed a decrease in Mg content after 1 year for all
treatments, but this was affected neither by pCO2 nor by temperature. Our
findings suggest that biological processes exert a strong control on
calcification on magnesium calcite and that CCA may be more resilient under rising
CO2 than previously thought. However, previously demonstrated increased
skeletal dissolution with ocean acidification will still have major
consequences for the stability and maintenance of Mediterranean
coralligenous habitats.
Citation
ID:
187363
Ref Key:
nash2016biogeosciencesmineralogical