Morphological plasticity of the coral skeleton under CO2-driven seawater acidification

摘要: Ocean acidification causes corals to calcify at reduced rates, but current understanding of the underlying processes is limited. Here, we conduct a mechanistic study into how seawater alters skeletal growth coral Stylophora pistillata. Reductions in colony calcification rates are manifested as increases porosity lower pH, while linear extension skeletons remains unchanged. Inspection microstructure and measurements pH site indicate that dissolution not responsible for changes porosity. Instead, occur by enlargement corallite-calyxes thinning associated elements, constituting modification skeleton architecture. We also detect organic matrix protein content formed under pH. Overall, our reveals only decreases calcification, can cause morphological change more porous potentially fragile phenotype.