High pCO2 promotes coral primary production

While research on ocean acidification (OA) impacts on coral reefs has focused on calcification, relatively little is known about effects on coral photosynthesis and respiration, despite these being among the most plastic metabolic processes corals may use to acclimatise to adverse conditions. Here, we present data collected between 2016 and 2018 at three natural CO2 seeps in Papua New Guinea where we measured the metabolic flexibility (i.e., in hospite photosynthesis and dark respiration) of 12 coral species. Despite some species-specific variability, metabolic rates as measured by net oxygen flux tended to be higher at high pCO2 (ca. 1200 µatm), with increases in photosynthesis exceeding those of respiration, suggesting greater productivity of Symbiodiniacea photosynthesis in hospite, and indicating the potential for metabolic flexibility that may enable these species to thrive in environments with high pCO2. However, lab and field observations of coral mortality under high CO2 conditi...

尽管当前针对海洋酸化（Ocean Acidification, OA）对珊瑚礁影响的研究多聚焦于钙化作用，但有关其对珊瑚光合作用与呼吸作用的影响却相对匮乏——而这两类过程正是珊瑚用以适应不良环境的最具可塑性的代谢途径之一。本研究展示了2016至2018年间在巴布亚新几内亚三处天然CO₂渗漏点采集的数据：我们在此测定了12种珊瑚的代谢可塑性，即宿主体内共生光合生物的光合作用与暗呼吸速率。尽管存在一定的物种特异性差异，但以净氧通量表征的代谢速率在高二氧化碳分压（约1200微大气压）环境下普遍更高，且光合作用的增幅超过呼吸作用，这提示宿主体内虫黄藻科（Symbiodiniaceae）的光合作用生产力有所提升，同时表明这些珊瑚具备代谢可塑性潜力，使其能够在高二氧化碳分压环境中存活繁衍。然而，有关高CO₂环境下珊瑚死亡率的实验室与野外观测结果仍……