Collaborative Research: Resiliency of corals to changing saturation state: A field study.

摘要（Swart 0550588）有证据表明，大气CO2升高引发的碳酸盐饱和状态的变化可能对硬核珊瑚的钙化产生负面影响。然而，迄今为止，从珊瑚骨骼中提取的岩心中尚未发现这种减少。该提案将探讨珊瑚是否能够适应低饱和度条件的生长，以帮助解决这一难题，通过使用珊瑚生长在边缘环境中，这表现出广泛的碳酸钙饱和度。环境，如佛罗里达湾，包含一个小而明显强大的幸存珊瑚群落，尽管饱和状态发生了巨大的变化，但仍保持着与附近珊瑚礁地带珊瑚相当的扩展率。pi计划使用生长在佛罗里达湾的大群螺螺管属进行一项独特的实验，他们将允许自然环境操纵饱和状态。在18个月的时间里，每两个月测量一次钙化和其他生理参数。在这种自然变化的叠加上，pi将施加饱和度的变化，旨在揭示盐度和饱和状态对钙化和延伸的竞争影响。最后，他们将检查珊瑚骨架内的密度和地球化学记录，以确定影响二氧化碳分压变化的因素，以及是否可以从骨骼记录中读取过去二氧化碳分压的变化。

Abstract (Swart 0550588)Evidence has shown that the changing carbonate saturation state, triggered by the rise in atmospheric CO2, may have a negative influence upon the calcification of scleractinian corals. However, such decreases have to date not been recognized in cores taken from coral skeletons. This proposal will explore the question of whether corals are able to adapt their growth to reduced saturation conditions to help solve this dilemma by using corals growing in marginal environments, which exhibit wide ranges in calcium carbonate saturation. Environments, such as Florida Bay, contain a small but apparently robust community of survivor corals maintaining extension rates comparable to corals on the nearby reef tract in spite of large and documented changes in saturation state. The PIs plan to use large colonies of the genus Solenastrea sp. that grow in Florida Bay to conduct a unique experiment in which they will allow the natural environment to manipulate the saturation state. Every two months over an 18 month period, calcification will be measured together with other physiological parameters. Superimposed upon this natural variation, the PIs will impose changes in saturation aimed at unraveling the competing influences of salinity and saturation state on calcification and extension. Finally, they will examine the density and geochemical record within the coral skeleton in order to determine what influences the changing pCO2 and whether past changes in pCO2 can be read from the skeletal record.