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Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities

The ecological effects of ocean acidification (OA) from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) on benthic marine communities are largely unknown. We investigated in situ the consequences of long-term exposure to high CO(2) on coral-reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities around three shallo...

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Autores principales: Fabricius, K. E., De'ath, G., Noonan, S., Uthicke, S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3866403/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24307670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2479
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author Fabricius, K. E.
De'ath, G.
Noonan, S.
Uthicke, S.
author_facet Fabricius, K. E.
De'ath, G.
Noonan, S.
Uthicke, S.
author_sort Fabricius, K. E.
collection PubMed
description The ecological effects of ocean acidification (OA) from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) on benthic marine communities are largely unknown. We investigated in situ the consequences of long-term exposure to high CO(2) on coral-reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities around three shallow volcanic CO(2) seeps in Papua New Guinea. The densities of many groups and the number of taxa (classes and phyla) of macroinvertebrates were significantly reduced at elevated CO(2) (425–1100 µatm) compared with control sites. However, sensitivities of some groups, including decapod crustaceans, ascidians and several echinoderms, contrasted with predictions of their physiological CO(2) tolerances derived from laboratory experiments. High CO(2) reduced the availability of structurally complex corals that are essential refugia for many reef-associated macroinvertebrates. This loss of habitat complexity was also associated with losses in many macroinvertebrate groups, especially predation-prone mobile taxa, including crustaceans and crinoids. The transition from living to dead coral as substratum and habitat further altered macroinvertebrate communities, with far more taxa losing than gaining in numbers. Our study shows that indirect ecological effects of OA (reduced habitat complexity) will complement its direct physiological effects and together with the loss of coral cover through climate change will severely affect macroinvertebrate communities in coral reefs.
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spelling pubmed-38664032014-01-22 Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities Fabricius, K. E. De'ath, G. Noonan, S. Uthicke, S. Proc Biol Sci Research Articles The ecological effects of ocean acidification (OA) from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO(2)) on benthic marine communities are largely unknown. We investigated in situ the consequences of long-term exposure to high CO(2) on coral-reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities around three shallow volcanic CO(2) seeps in Papua New Guinea. The densities of many groups and the number of taxa (classes and phyla) of macroinvertebrates were significantly reduced at elevated CO(2) (425–1100 µatm) compared with control sites. However, sensitivities of some groups, including decapod crustaceans, ascidians and several echinoderms, contrasted with predictions of their physiological CO(2) tolerances derived from laboratory experiments. High CO(2) reduced the availability of structurally complex corals that are essential refugia for many reef-associated macroinvertebrates. This loss of habitat complexity was also associated with losses in many macroinvertebrate groups, especially predation-prone mobile taxa, including crustaceans and crinoids. The transition from living to dead coral as substratum and habitat further altered macroinvertebrate communities, with far more taxa losing than gaining in numbers. Our study shows that indirect ecological effects of OA (reduced habitat complexity) will complement its direct physiological effects and together with the loss of coral cover through climate change will severely affect macroinvertebrate communities in coral reefs. The Royal Society 2014-01-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3866403/ /pubmed/24307670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2479 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ © 2013 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Fabricius, K. E.
De'ath, G.
Noonan, S.
Uthicke, S.
Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title_full Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title_fullStr Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title_full_unstemmed Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title_short Ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
title_sort ecological effects of ocean acidification and habitat complexity on reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3866403/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24307670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2479
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