Affiliation:
1. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
Abstract
The ecological effects of ocean acidification (OA) from rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO
2
) on benthic marine communities are largely unknown. We investigated
in situ
the consequences of long-term exposure to high CO
2
on coral-reef-associated macroinvertebrate communities around three shallow volcanic CO
2
seeps in Papua New Guinea. The densities of many groups and the number of taxa (classes and phyla) of macroinvertebrates were significantly reduced at elevated CO
2
(425–1100 µatm) compared with control sites. However, sensitivities of some groups, including decapod crustaceans, ascidians and several echinoderms, contrasted with predictions of their physiological CO
2
tolerances derived from laboratory experiments. High CO
2
reduced the availability of structurally complex corals that are essential refugia for many reef-associated macroinvertebrates. This loss of habitat complexity was also associated with losses in many macroinvertebrate groups, especially predation-prone mobile taxa, including crustaceans and crinoids. The transition from living to dead coral as substratum and habitat further altered macroinvertebrate communities, with far more taxa losing than gaining in numbers. Our study shows that indirect ecological effects of OA (reduced habitat complexity) will complement its direct physiological effects and together with the loss of coral cover through climate change will severely affect macroinvertebrate communities in coral reefs.
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
178 articles.
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