UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE OF REEFS WITH CLIMATE CHANGE NATURAL ANALOGUES

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the driving forces altering the marine environment. Ocean acidification (OA: low pH) and ocean warming (OW: elevated temperatures) are two major factors affecting calcifying marine organisms such as coralline algae. Coralline algae are an important foundation species and one of the most sensitive taxa to OA and OW. However, select species of coralline algae persist at some naturally low pH/high temperature ecosystems. We hypothesize that species-specific traits enable these coralline algae to survive at such sites. We test this using two reciprocal transplant experiments where multiple coralline algal species from the two natural analogues were collected and transplanted to their respective control and natural analogue sites. Bouraké, New Caledonia is a semi-enclosed lagoon that experiences low pH and high temperatures because of daily tidal shifts. Shikine, Japan is a shallow water carbon dioxide vent that has consistently lower pH while also experiencing tropicalization. Using this approach, we can test potential acclimatization and adaptive processes. We compare the physiological responses of the two reciprocal transplant experiments to assess which species of these important taxa have the potential to acclimatize to future climate conditions (OA and OW). Further analysis will determine the molecular mechanisms responsible.

Presentation Preference: Oral

Primary Presenter: Holly Koch, Victoria University of Wellington (hollykoch99@gmail.com)

Authors:

Holly Koch, Victoria University of Wellington  (holly.koch@vuw.ac.nz)

Denisa Berbece, Victoria University of Wellington  (denisa.berbece@vuw.ac.nz)

Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Nouméa, Nouvelle Calédonie  (riccardo.rodolfo-metalpa@ird.fr)

Ben Harvey, Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan  (ben.harvey@shimoda.tsukuba.ac.jp)

JD Gaitan-Espitia, University of Hong Kong  (jdgaitan@hku.hk)

Wendy Nelson, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand  (wendy.nelson@auckland.ac.nz)

Christopher Cornwall, Victoria University of Wellington  (christopher.cornwall@vuw.ac.nz)