Ocean warming and acidification detrimentally affect coral tissue regeneration at a Mediterranean CO2 vent

Teresa Sani, Fiorella Prada, Giulia Radi, Erik Caroselli, Giuseppe Falini, Zvy Dubinsky, Stefano Goffredo

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Abstract

Among the main phenomena that are causing significant changes in ocean waters are warming and acidification, largely due to anthropogenic activities. Growing evidence suggests that climate change is having more substantial and rapid effects on marine communities than on terrestrial ones, triggering several physiological responses in these organisms, including in corals. Here we investigated, for first time in the field, the combined effect of increasing seawater acidification and warming on tissue regeneration rate of three Mediterranean scleractinian coral species characterized by different trophic strategies and growth modes. Balanophyllia europaea (solitary, zooxanthellate), Leptopsammia pruvoti (solitary, non-zooxanthellate) and Astroides calycularis (colonial, non-zooxanthellate) specimens were transplanted, during a cold, intermediate, and warm period, along a natural pH gradient generated by an underwater volcanic crater at Panarea Island (Mediterranean Sea, Italy), characterized by continuous and localized CO2 emissions at ambient temperature. Our results show a decrease in regenerative capacity, especially in the zooxanthellate species, with increasing seawater temperature and acidification, with demonstrated species-specific differences. This finding suggests that increasing seawater temperature and acidification could have a compounding effect on coral regeneration following injury, potentially hindering the capacity of corals to recover following physical disturbance under predicted climate change.

Original languageEnglish
Article number167789
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume906
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Funding

This study represents partial fulfilment of the requirements for the doctoral thesis of Teresa Sani, within the international Program “Innovative Technologies and Sustainable Use of Mediterranean Sea Fishery and Biological Resources” (FishMed-PhD; www.Fish - Med-PhD.org ) at the University of Bologna, Italy. The research leading to these results has received funding from: 1) the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ ERC grant agreement n° 249930 —CoralWarm: Corals and global warming: the Mediterranean versus the Red Sea, 2) the European Union - NextGenerationEU through the Italian Ministry of University and Research under PNRR - M4C2-I1.4 Project code: CN00000033, Title: NBFC - National Biodiversity Future Center, CUP: J33C22001190001. Bartolo Basile, Francesco Sesso and Eolo Sub diving center assisted in the field. The Scientific Diving School collaborated with the underwater activities. We are grateful to Francesco Sesso for the images of the species and experimental site. The experiment complied with current Italian law. This study represents partial fulfilment of the requirements for the doctoral thesis of Teresa Sani, within the international Program “Innovative Technologies and Sustainable Use of Mediterranean Sea Fishery and Biological Resources” (FishMed-PhD; www.Fish- Med-PhD.org) at the University of Bologna, Italy. The research leading to these results has received funding from: 1) the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ ERC grant agreement n° 249930—CoralWarm: Corals and global warming: the Mediterranean versus the Red Sea, 2) the European Union - NextGenerationEU through the Italian Ministry of University and Research under PNRR - M4C2-I1.4 Project code: CN00000033, Title: NBFC - National Biodiversity Future Center, CUP: J33C22001190001. Bartolo Basile, Francesco Sesso and Eolo Sub diving center assisted in the field. The Scientific Diving School collaborated with the underwater activities. We are grateful to Francesco Sesso for the images of the species and experimental site. The experiment complied with current Italian law.

FundersFunder number
NBFC
National Biodiversity Future CenterJ33C22001190001
Seventh Framework Programme
European Commission
European Commission249930
Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della RicercaCN00000033
Seventh Framework Programme
Università di Bologna

    Keywords

    • Climate change
    • Corals
    • Field study
    • Lesion recovery rate
    • Mediterranean Sea
    • Natural pH gradient

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