Coral reefs will transition to net dissolving before end of century
Acid reef-flux
The uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is reducing the pH of the oceans. Ocean acidification means that calcium carbonate—the material with which coral reefs are built—will be more difficult for organisms to generate and will dissolve more quickly. Eyre et al. report that some reefs are already experiencing net sediment dissolution. Worryingly, the rates of loss will increase as ocean acidification intensifies.
Science, this issue p. 908
Abstract
Ocean acidification refers to the lowering of the ocean’s pH due to the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. Coral reef calcification is expected to decrease as the oceans become more acidic. Dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) sands could greatly exacerbate reef loss associated with reduced calcification but is presently poorly constrained. Here we show that CaCO3 dissolution in reef sediments across five globally distributed sites is negatively correlated with the aragonite saturation state (Ωar) of overlying seawater and that CaCO3 sediment dissolution is 10-fold more sensitive to ocean acidification than coral calcification. Consequently, reef sediments globally will transition from net precipitation to net dissolution when seawater Ωar reaches 2.92 ± 0.16 (expected circa 2050 CE). Notably, some reefs are already experiencing net sediment dissolution.
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Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 to S4
Tables S1 to S5
Resources
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Volume 359 | Issue 6378
23 February 2018
23 February 2018
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Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Received: 14 June 2017
Accepted: 6 December 2017
Published in print: 23 February 2018
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Grants 110103638 (B.D.E.) and 150102092 (B.D.E. and A.J.A.), with contributions from NSF OCE 12-55042 (A.J.A.), Sea Grant N. NA140AR4170071 (E.H.D.C.), and James and Marsha Seeley and the Tetiaroa Society (J.P.S.). B.D.E. conceived the project and wrote the manuscript. T.C. contributed to the writing. B.D.E. and T.C. did the modeling. B.D.E., T.C., and A.J.A. did the data analysis. All authors contributed to the data collection, discussed the results, and commented on the manuscript. The data are provided in the supplementary materials. All authors declare no conflicting interests. I. Alexander and J. Rosentreter assisted with the figure preparation. K. Schulz reviewed a draft manuscript. We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This is School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology contribution 10270 and UNIHI-SEAGRANT-JC-15-23.
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Australian Research Council: DP150102092
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