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Comment
. 2013 Jan 29;110(5):1567-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1221308110. Epub 2013 Jan 17.

Coral calcification feels the acid

Alexander C Gagnon  1
Affiliations
Comment

Coral calcification feels the acid

Alexander C Gagnon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Coral calcifying fluid pH decreases with ocean acidification, as shown by Venn et al. (3) from direct pH measurements in the tropical coral S. pistillata (blue boxes), and as inferred from previous boron isotope measurements (–10). Boron isotope data from S. pistillata (yellow boxes) and other tropical species (yellow diamonds) roughly agree with direct measurements, whereas deep-sea coral (orange circles) are characterized by higher calcifying fluid pH values and lower sensitivity to seawater pH. Compared with seawater (dashed line), tropical coral calcifying fluid pH is more offset under more acidified conditions. Calcifying fluid pH calculated from boron isotope data using an δ11B of total boron of 39.16 ‰, a fractionation of 1.0272, and with pKB set by temperature and salinity. Total pH scale is used throughout.
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