title: Ocean warming and acidification synergistically increase coral mortality.
abstract: Organisms that accumulate calcium carbonate structures are particularly vulnerable to ocean warming (OW) and ocean acidification (OA), potentially reducing the socioeconomic benefits of ecosystems reliant on these taxa. Since rising atmospheric CO2is responsible for global warming and increasing ocean acidity, to correctly predict how OW and OA will affect marine organisms, their possible interactive effects must be assessed. Here we investigate, in the field, the combined temperature (range: 16-26 °C) and acidification (range: pHTS8.1-7.4) effects on mortality and growth of Mediterranean coral species transplanted, in different seasonal periods, along a natural pH gradient generated by a CO2vent. We show a synergistic adverse effect on mortality rates (up to 60%), for solitary and colonial, symbiotic and asymbiotic corals, suggesting that high seawater temperatures may have increased their metabolic rates which, in conjunction with decreasing pH, could have led to rapid deterioration of cellular processes and performance. The net calcification rate of the symbiotic species was not affected by decreasing pH, regardless of temperature, while in the two asymbiotic species it was negatively affected by increasing acidification and temperature, suggesting that symbiotic corals may be more tolerant to increasing warming and acidifying conditions compared to asymbiotic ones.
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Group, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Prada
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Group, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caroselli
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of Bologna, Via Capo di Lucca 34, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mengoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127 Bologna, Italy.|Museo Storico e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Piazza del Viminale 1, I-00184 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brizi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127 Bologna, Italy.|Museo Storico e Centro Studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, Piazza del Viminale 1, I-00184 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fantazzini
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Piazza di Porta S. Donato 1, I-40127 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Capaccioni
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, I-40127 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pasquini
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville 4810, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Fabricius
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dubinsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry "G. Ciamician", University of Bologna, Via Selmi 2, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Falini
authors.affiliation: Marine Science Group, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, I-40126 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goffredo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000254:growth & development*; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000032:analysis; D057894:Coral Reefs; D017753:Ecosystem; D057232:Global Warming; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D002119:Calcium Carbonate