This study is a collaborative, in situ investigation of the responses of the shallow-water tropical coral reef ecosystems to the interactive effects of ocean acidification, ocean warming and dissolved inorganic nutrients.
Coral reefs exist because reef calcifying organisms produce calcium carbonate faster than it can be eroded by the sea, or by boring organisms. Today, rates of calcium carbonate accretion only barely exceed rates of dissolution, and as a result coral reefs grow very slowly, if at all.
It's predicted that ocean acidification could drive up to 80% decline in coral calcification rates by the end of this century. We are investigating how the energetic status of the coral host might influence this outcome.