Biotic control of skeletal growth by scleractinian corals in aragonite-calcite seas

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 7;9(3):e91021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091021. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Modern scleractinian coral skeletons are commonly composed of aragonite, the orthorhombic form of CaCO3. Under certain conditions, modern corals produce calcite as a secondary precipitate to fill pore space. However, coral construction of primary skeletons from calcite has yet to be demonstrated. We report a calcitic primary skeleton produced by the modern scleractinian coral Acropora tenuis. When uncalcified juveniles were incubated from the larval stage in seawater with low mMg/Ca levels, the juveniles constructed calcitic crystals in parts of the primary skeleton such as the septa; the deposits were observable under Raman microscopy. Using scanning electron microscopy, we observed different crystal morphologies of aragonite and calcite in a single juvenile skeleton. Quantitative analysis using X-ray diffraction showed that the majority of the skeleton was composed of aragonite even though we had exposed the juveniles to manipulated seawater before their initial crystal nucleation and growth processes. Our results indicate that the modern scleractinian coral Acropora mainly produces aragonite skeletons in both aragonite and calcite seas, but also has the ability to use calcite for part of its skeletal growth when incubated in calcite seas.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anthozoa / growth & development
  • Anthozoa / metabolism*
  • Anthozoa / ultrastructure
  • Calcium / metabolism*
  • Calcium Carbonate / metabolism*
  • Cations, Divalent
  • Larva / growth & development
  • Larva / metabolism
  • Larva / ultrastructure
  • Magnesium / metabolism*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Seawater / chemistry
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Cations, Divalent
  • Calcium Carbonate
  • Magnesium
  • Calcium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Sasagawa Scientific Research Grant from The Japan Science Society (No. 24–704 M), Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Coral reef science for symbiosis and coexistence of human and ecosystem under combined stresses” (No. 20121003) and “Response and possible drastic change of coral reef ecosystem in response to global warming and ocean acidification” (No. 20310014) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.