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WATER WORLD
Coral 'helper' stays robust under ocean acidification
by Staff Writers
Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Jan 24, 2020

Coralline algae on Rottnest Island. Credit: ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies/ Chris Cornwall

Scientists say a type of algae crucial to the survival of coral reefs may be able to resist the impacts of ocean acidification caused by climate change.

In a world-first, the team - including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at The University of Western Australia (Coral CoE at UWA) - found that coralline algae are able to build tolerance to ocean acidification over multiple generations.

"Coralline algae go through a natural process of calcification, where they build a crustose-like calcium carbonate skeleton," said lead author Dr Christopher Cornwall.

"Skeletons like this provide structure, allowing them to grow, as well as providing a substrate for other organisms such as corals to grow upon," he said.

"We show, for the first time, that while growth of these skeletons is initially susceptible to the effects of ocean acidification caused by increased CO2, over multiple generations they develop resistance."

Coralline algae are vital not only to the survival of coral reefs but many ocean species.

"Crustose coralline algae bind coral reefs together," said Professor McCulloch, Coral CoE Deputy Director, who led the research group. "Without it, coral reefs as we know them today wouldn't exist," he said.

"These species limit erosion in reefs that are often made up of mainly coral fragments, act as a nursery for many marine species, and are the main player in temperate reef formation along the Australian and New Zealand coastlines."

The experiments took more than 18 months to complete. On average, the algae took six generations of about six to eight weeks each to develop resistance to ocean acidification.

The findings of the study are important in understanding how longer-lived species, such as tropical corals, could respond over multiple generations to ocean acidification.

"Coralline algae are a useful model species to test hypotheses about adaptation or acclimation over time as they grow to maturity in six weeks as opposed to several years for many coral species," Dr Cornwall said.

The next step is to test a wider range of coralline algae species.

"This research focused on tropical coralline algae species from northern Australia, so the next step is to study temperate species - like those in southern Australian and New Zealand waters - that grow a lot slower and may not acclimatise to climate change as quickly."

Research Report: 'A coralline alga gains tolerance to ocean acidification over multiple generations of exposure'


Related Links
Arc Centre Of Excellence For Coral Reef Studies
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics


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WATER WORLD
US dumps huge amounts of sand on Miami Beach to tackle climate change erosion
Miami Beach, United States (AFP) Jan 17, 2020
Dozens of trucks have started dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of sand on Miami Beach as part of US government measures to protect Florida's tourist destinations against the effects of climate change. "We have erosion hotspots," said Stephen Leatherman, an expert on beaches and the environment at Florida International University. "When the beach is critically narrow, there's not enough room for recreation for all the people that come here, and more important, perhaps, all these buildings n ... read more

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