Consideration of coastal carbonate chemistry in understanding biological calcification

Correlations between aragonite saturation state (ΩAr) and calcification have been identified in many laboratory manipulation experiments aiming to assess biological responses to ocean acidification (OA). These relationships have been used with projections of ΩAr under continued OA to evaluate potent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2016-05, Vol.43 (9), p.4467-4476
Main Authors: Fassbender, Andrea J., Sabine, Christopher L., Feifel, Kirsten M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidification
Aragonite
Assessments
Bicarbonates
biogeochemistry
Calcification
Carbonates
Coastal
Coastal zone
Coastal zones
Correlation
Hydrogen
Hydrogen ions
Marine environment
Natural environment
Natural variability
Ocean acidification
oceanography
Oceans
Omega
Saturation
saturation state
Substrate inhibition
Vulnerability
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Summary:Correlations between aragonite saturation state (ΩAr) and calcification have been identified in many laboratory manipulation experiments aiming to assess biological responses to ocean acidification (OA). These relationships have been used with projections of ΩAr under continued OA to evaluate potential impacts on marine calcifiers. Recent work suggests, however, that calcification in some species may be controlled by the ratio of bicarbonate to hydrogen ion, or the substrate‐to‐inhibitor ratio (SIR), rather than ΩAr. SIR and ΩAr are not always positively correlated in the natural environment, which means that ΩAr can be a poor indicator of the calcifying environment when ΩAr‐>1. Highly variable carbonate chemistry in the coastal zone challenges our ability to monitor fluctuations in ΩAr, SIR, and the ΩAr‐SIR relationship making it difficult to assess biological OA exposures and vulnerability. Careful consideration of natural variability throughout ocean environments is required to accurately determine the influence of OA on biological calcification. Key Points Alternative indicators of biological calcification have implications for how carbonate chemistry variations are interpreted in OA studies The design of many CO2 manipulation experiments gives rise to ΩAr correlations that can be misleading Coastal carbonate system dynamics may complicate accurate assessments of ocean acidification impacts on some species
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2016GL068860