Combined effects of climate change and the herbicide diuron on the coral Acropora millepora

Florita Flores; Joseane A Marques; Sven Uthicke; Rebecca Fisher; Frances Patel; Sarit Kaserzon; Andrew P Negri

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112582

Combined effects of climate change and the herbicide diuron on the coral Acropora millepora

Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Aug:169:112582. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112582. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Authors

Florita Flores¹, Joseane A Marques², Sven Uthicke³, Rebecca Fisher⁴, Frances Patel⁵, Sarit Kaserzon⁶, Andrew P Negri⁷

Affiliations

¹ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia. Electronic address: f.flores@aims.gov.au.
² Programa de Pós-Graduação em Oceanografia Biológica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.
³ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia. Electronic address: s.uthicke@aims.gov.au.
⁴ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Electronic address: r.fisher@aims.gov.au.
⁵ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia. Electronic address: f.patel@aims.gov.au.
⁶ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia. Electronic address: k.sarit@uq.edu.au.
⁷ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia. Electronic address: a.negri@aims.gov.au.

PMID: 34119962
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112582

Abstract

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is threatened by climate change and local pressures, including contaminants in nearshore habitats. This study investigated the combined effects of a GBR-relevant contaminant, the herbicide diuron, under current and two future climate scenarios on the coral Acropora millepora. All physiological responses tested (effective quantum yield (ΔF/Fm'), photosynthesis, calcification rate) were negatively affected with increasing concentrations of diuron. Interactive effects between diuron and climate were observed for all responses; however, climate had no significant effect on ΔF/Fm' or calcification rates. Photosynthesis was negatively affected as the climate scenarios were adjusted from ambient (28.1 °C, pCO₂ = 397 ppm) to RCP8.5 2050 (29.1 °C, pCO₂ = 680 ppm) and 2100 (30.2 °C, pCO₂ = 858 ppm) with EC50 values declining from 19.4 to 10.6 and 2.6 μg L^-1 diuron in turn. These results highlight the likelihood that water quality guideline values may need to be adjusted as the climate changes.

Keywords: Climate change; Coral; Diuron; Great Barrier Reef; Herbicide; Ocean acidification.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anthozoa*
Climate Change
Coral Reefs
Diuron / toxicity
Herbicides* / toxicity

Substances

Herbicides
Diuron