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Ocean acidification influences the biomass and diversity of reef-associated turf algal communities

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Abstract

Projected ocean acidification will have a detrimental impact on coral reef ecosystems, where fleshy algae are expected to replace corals. Of particular importance to reef ecosystems are fleshy turf algal communities, which have the potential to overgrow corals; few studies have investigated the community structure and diversity of turfs to climate change. Here, we assessed the response of reef-associated turf algal communities from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia to three levels of ocean acidification. Biomass of turf communities was positively affected by increases in carbon dioxide (CO2), where turf communities grown under high CO2 had the greatest biomass. No effect of CO2 was found on mean turf organic content or genus richness. By contrast, turf community evenness and diversity (H′) increased under medium and high CO2 treatments. Our results indicate that increased turf growth under high CO2 will aid the overall expansion and growth of fleshy macroalgae in coral reef ecosystems, as opportunistic algae may have an advantage over other reef-associated species. Changes in turf community diversity will help provide insight into how macroalgal communities may be structured in the future, highlighting genera primed to take advantage of the changes in ocean chemistry associated with ocean acidification.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Patrick Gartrell, Carlos del Mónaco, Alexandra Ordoñez Alvarez, and Bonnie Lewis for their support throughout the project. This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OISE-1209497. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement #EPS-1004057. Support was provided by an Australian Research Council Grant (ARC DP120101778) awarded to Dr. Guillermo Diaz-Pulido.

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  1. Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Gordon T. Ober & Carol Thornber

  2. Griffith School of Environment and Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Guillermo Diaz-Pulido

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  1. Gordon T. Ober
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  2. Guillermo Diaz-Pulido
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Correspondence to Gordon T. Ober.

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Gordon Ober, Dr. Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, and Dr. Carol Thornber declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This study was funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OISE-1209497 (awarded to Gordon Ober), the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement #EPS-1004057 (awarded to Gordon Ober), and Australian Research Council Grant (ARC DP120101778) awarded to Dr. Guillermo Diaz-Pulido. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Ober, G.T., Diaz-Pulido, G. & Thornber, C. Ocean acidification influences the biomass and diversity of reef-associated turf algal communities. Mar Biol 163, 204 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-2978-8

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