Coral Reef Carbonate Chemistry Variability at Different Functional Scales

Authors

Yuichiro Takeshita, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Tyler Cyronak, University of California - San DiegoFollow
Todd R. Martz, University of California - San Diego
Theodor Kindeberg, University of California - San Diego
Andreas J. Andersson, University of California - San Diego

ORCID

0000-0003-3556-7616

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Frontiers in Marine Science

ISSN

2296-7745

Publication Date

5-22-2018

Keywords

Coral reef biogeochemistry, Carbonate chemistry variability, Bermuda, Beams, NCP and NCC

Abstract

There is a growing recognition for the need to understand how seawater carbonate chemistry over coral reef environments will change in a high-CO₂ world to better assess the impacts of ocean acidification on these valuable ecosystems. Coral reefs modify overlying water column chemistry through biogeochemical processes such as net community organic carbon production (NCP) and calcification (NCC). However, the relative importance and influence of these processes on seawater carbonate chemistry vary across multiple functional scales (defined here as space, time, and benthic community composition), and have not been fully constrained. Here, we use Bermuda as a case study to assess (1) spatiotemporal variability in physical and chemical parameters along a depth gradient at a rim reef location, (2) the spatial variability of total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) over distinct benthic habitats to infer NCC:NCP ratios [< several km²; rim reef vs. seagrass and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) sediments] on diel timescales, and (3) compare how TA-DIC relationships and NCC:NCP vary as we expand functional scales from local habitats to the entire reef platform (10's of km²) on seasonal to interannual timescales. Our results demonstrate that TA-DIC relationships were strongly driven by local benthic metabolism and community composition over diel cycles. However, as the spatial scale expanded to the reef platform, the TA-DIC relationship reflected processes that were integrated over larger spatiotemporal scales, with effects of NCC becoming increasingly more important over NCP. This study demonstrates the importance of considering drivers across multiple functional scales to constrain carbonate chemistry variability over coral reefs.

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2018.00175

Volume

5

Issue

175

First Page

1

Last Page

12

Comments

©2018 Takeshita, Cyronak, Martz, Kindeberg and Andersson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Additional Comments

NSF grant #: CRI-OA 1316047, OCE 12-55042, OCE 14-16518

NSUWorks Citation

Yuichiro Takeshita, Tyler Cyronak, Todd R. Martz, Theodor Kindeberg, and Andreas J. Andersson. 2018. Coral Reef Carbonate Chemistry Variability at Different Functional Scales .Frontiers in Marine Science , (175) : 1 -12. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_facarticles/1031.