Coral post-settlement physiology at high pCO2: respiration, protein content, seawater properties and carbonate chemistry, Taiwan 2010 (MCR LTER project, Climate_Coral_Larvae project)

<p>We tested the effects of pCO2 on <em>Seriatopora caliendrum</em> recruits over the first 5.3 d of post-settlement existence. In March 2011, 11-20 larvae spawned from colonies collected at Nanwan Bay, Taiwan were settled in glass vials (3.2 mL) and incubated at 24.0 °C and ~250 µmol quanta/m^2/s while supplied with seawater (at 1.4 mL/s) equilibrated with 51.6 Pa pCO2 (ambient) or 86.4 Pa pCO2. At 51.6 Pa pCO2, mean respiration 7 h post-settlement was 0.056 ± 0.007 nmol O2/recruit/min, but rose quickly to 0.095 ± 0.007 nmol O2/recruit/min at 3.3 d post-settlement, and thereafter declined to 0.075 ± 0.002 nmol O2/recruit/min at 5.3 d post-settlement (all ± SE). Elevated pCO2 depressed respiration of recruits by 19% after 3.3 d and 12% overall (i.e., integrated over 5.3 d), and while it had no effect on corallite area, elevated pCO2 was associated with weaker adhesion to the glass settlement surface and lower protein biomass. The unique costs of settlement and metamorphosis for <em>S. caliendrum</em> over 5.3 d are estimated to be 257 mJ/recruit at 51.6 Pa pCO2, which is less than the energy content of the larvae and recruits.</p>

<p>These data were published in: Edmunds PJ, Cumbo VR, Fan TY. (2013) Metabolic costs of larval&nbsp;settlement and metamorphosis in the coral <em>Seriatopora caliendrum</em> under ambient and elevated&nbsp;pCO2. &nbsp;Journal Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 443: 33-38</p>

<p>Data were downloaded from PANGAEA: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.821644 on 2014-08-26.<br />
<a href=\"http://dmoserv3.whoi.edu/data_docs/Climate_Coral_Larvae/Edmunds_etal_2013_JEMBE443_BCODMO.xls\" target=\"_blank\">Download data for this publication (Excel file)</a></p>