Fig. 3: Comparison of the impact of ocean acidification (OA) heat-stress and combined effect on Orbicella annularis, Montastraea cavernosa, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella faveolata. | Communications Biology

Fig. 3: Comparison of the impact of ocean acidification (OA) heat-stress and combined effect on Orbicella annularis, Montastraea cavernosa, Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Orbicella faveolata.

From: Evaluation of the current understanding of the impact of climate change on coral physiology after three decades of experimental research

Fig. 3

Values (means ± SE; n = 4) are expressed as relative changes with respect to the control. The left panels in blue shade (a, b) illustrate the effect of OA (CT, OA) on coral physiology (gross photosynthesis, Pmax [blue], and calcification, Gmax [mint green]), and coral pigmentation (symbiont [khaki], Chla [green] density, and symbiont cell pigmentation, Ci, [dark green]). The right panels in yellow shade (e–h), describe relative changes in the physiological (e, g) and structural coral traits (f, h) in response to: e, f heat-stress (HT-COA) and g, h the combined effect of heat-stress and ocean acidification (HT-OA). Values marked with Asterisks (*) indicate significant differences against the control (CT-COA) determined using Tukey HSD post hoc tests (p < 0.05). Middle panels (c, d) illustrate the differential impact of OA (blue shade) and heat-stress (yellow shade) on the association of variation between: c coral calcification, Gmax, (µmol CaCO3 cm−2 h−1) and gross photosynthesis, Pmax (µmol O2 cm−2 h−1; and d between Pmax and changes in symbiont density (×106 cells cm−2). Circles represent the CT-COA treatment; squares—CT-OA; triangles—HT-COA; diamonds—HT-OA, for O. annularis (dark blue, O.a.), M. cavernosa (blue turquoise, M.c.), P. strigosa (red, P.s.) and O. faveolata (orange, O.f.). Empty circles represent the values for each sample.

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