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Beneficial Microorganisms in Multicellular Life Forms pp 163–173Cite as

Effect of Ocean Acidification on the Coral Microbial Community

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Abstract

An emerging environmental stress that can impact coral reefs worldwide is ocean acidification, a result of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration. Surface seawater pH is 0.1 units lower than pre-industrial values and is predicted to decrease by up to 0.4 units by the end of the century. This change in pH may result in changes in the physiology of ocean organisms, in particular organisms that build their skeletons/shells from calcium carbonate, such as corals. This physiological change may also affect other members of the coral holobiont, which in turn may influence coral physiology and health. This chapter reviews the laboratory and field studies to date that have examined the effect of pH on the coral microbial community (i.e., bacteria, archaea, fungi, and endolithic communities). The impact of this change on the coral host is also discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Dalit Meron, Lena Hazanov, Maoz Fine & Ehud Banin

  2. The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Science in Eilat, Eilat, Israel

    Lena Hazanov & Maoz Fine

Authors
  1. Dalit Meron
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  2. Lena Hazanov
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  3. Maoz Fine
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  4. Ehud Banin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ehud Banin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept. of Molecular Microbiology and Biot, University of Tel Aviv, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  2. , Dept. of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Tel Aviv, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Uri Gophna

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Meron, D., Hazanov, L., Fine, M., Banin, E. (2012). Effect of Ocean Acidification on the Coral Microbial Community. In: Rosenberg, E., Gophna, U. (eds) Beneficial Microorganisms in Multicellular Life Forms. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21680-0_11

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