Climate Change
Laboratory

• Home
• Laboratory
• Research Projects
  • Climate Change
  • Florida Bay
  • La Parguera
  • Biomineralization
  • Larval Survivorship
• FAQ Climate Change
• Multimedia
• Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Scientific Articles
• People
• Contact Information

Resiliency of corals in Florida Bay

Scientists from three divisions at the Rosenstiel School: Peter Swart, Marine Geology and Geophysics;, Chris Langdon, Marine Biology and Fisheries and Frank Millero, Marine and Atmospheric Chemisty are collaborating in a NSF-funded study into the resilience of two species too CO₂ conditions in Florida Bay.

The two species of corals, Siderastrae radians and Solenastrae bourni, present great interest because of their capacity to grow very well in Florida Bay, despite seasonal extremes CO₂. How do these organisms manage to cope with such difficult environmental conditions? The study will document the physical and chemical conditions over a two-year period and relate them to the photosynthesis and calcification rates of these two species measured in-situ. Finding more information about how these corals survive in such a stressful environment could offer important details to understanding the physiology of coral survival in general.

Fig. 1 Landsat image showing Florida Bay and location of study site.

Fig. 2 Coring the very large Solenastrae bourni colony (3 m dia) located at the study site to obtain a historical record of skeletal growth, density and calcification over the last approximately 50 years.

Abstract of paper that will be presented at the 11th ICRS meeting to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL July 7-11, 2008.

Coral Resiliency to Changing pCO₂ in Florida Bay
Remy Okasaki¹, Peter Swart¹, Chris Langdon¹, Frank Millero^1
1University of Miami – RSMAS

Despite evidence showing increased pCO₂ decreases coral calcification, coral growth appears to be unaffected in Florida Bay, where pCO₂ varies seasonally by over 400 ppm. These changing conditions make Florida Bay an ideal environment in which to study coral responses to different pCO₂ levels. In-situ calcification rates of the dominant coral species, Solenastrae sp and Siderastrea sp., are measured bi-monthly. Furthermore, other variables affecting coral growth are monitored, including temperature, saturation state, and light. Superimposed on this natural variability, coral growth is measured under artificially lowered pH conditions. These measurements will evaluate corals' responses to a range of physiochemical conditions and whether they have adapted to changing pCO₂.