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    The ocean's surface acidification with increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and the threats for coral reef calcification
    (2017-04-01)
    Ohde, Shigeru
    ;
    Ouchi, Aaron K.
    ;
    In some tropical, shallow water, coastal areas located around the world, coral cover has been decreasing. This decline in coral reefs is possibly considered to be due to global environmental changes, such as increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO<inf>2</inf>) produced by anthropogenic sources. The extra atmospheric CO<inf>2</inf> is leading to increased seawater surface temperature (SST) as well as surface ocean acidification. This study investigates the relationship between the coral calcification rate and four different controlling factors, seawater pH, aragonite saturation state (O<inf>arag</inf>), temperature, and light intensity. Seawater temperature, pH, and O<inf>arag</inf> are all being directly affected by the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide occurring. In this study, coral reef observations were performed in Jicchaku, Okinawa, Japan. A medium sized tide-pool (250 X 225 cm<sup>2</sup>, average water depth = 22.6 cm) was utilized for experimental observation periods. Two different types of trials were also run. Normal pH (~8.2) trials were run with no alteration to the seawater. Low pH trials were run after adding ~20 mL of 12M HCl to lower the pH in the tide-pool to a pH of ~7.8. During each trial run, a seawater sample was taken once at the beginning and end of the trial run and once during the trial run. In the laboratory, the samples collected from the field were utilized to determine pH and salinity. Total alkalinity (TA) was determined using the Gran plot method that uses a titration pH curve to determine TA. Seawater O<inf>arag</inf> was calculated using a computer program called CO2SYS. The calcification rate was calculated using the change in TA over the change in time. Data from a daytime normal pH trial at the tide-pool showed TA decreased in relation to time for this trial indicating that calcification was occurring at that time. Data from a nighttime showed TA increased in relation to time for the trial indicating that calcium carbonate dissolution was occurring during nighttime. We also observed that there is a positive relationship between light intensity and the calcification rate suggesting 'light-enhanced' calcification. It could be observed that there is little correlation between the temperature and calcification rate. This suggests that temperature had no effect on changes in the calcification rate for the tide-pool experiments. On the other hand, seawater pH and O<inf>arag</inf> were observed to have a strong influence on the calcification rate. From the field experiments we suggest that coral reef calcification is closely coupled to seawater CO<inf>2</inf> pH and O<inf>arag</inf>, and reduced coral calcification is predicted in the near future when atmospheric CO<inf>2</inf> further increases.
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    Item type:Publication,
    Coral skeletons as a recorder of metal pollution: Environmental monitoring in the gulf of Thailand
    (2016-01-01)
    Ohde, Shigeru
    ;
    Tanaka, Kentaro
    ;
    ;
    McLeod, Cameron W.
    Coral skeletons provide useful information on aquatic environments in which corals grew, and they also offer to use as recorders of pollution history from urbanized hinterlands to coral reefs. In order to monitor pollutant discharges from urban areas to the Gulf of Thailand since the 1980s, we collected Porites corals from Khang Khao Island about 50 km southeast of Bangkok in 1985, 1998, 2001 and 2008. The coral collection periods since the 1980s coincided with a series of laws enacted by the Thai government to curb environmental pollution. To determine the skeletal growth of the samples, oxygen isotopes (<sup>18</sup>O/<sup>16</sup>O as δ<sup>18</sup>O) in coral aragonite was measured by stable isotope mass spectrometry. A cyclical change in d18O is observed to record an annual change in seawater salinity, and then the coral growth rate is estimated at ~18 mm/year on average. Using the skeletal δ<sup>18</sup>O method, the coral chronology was established in the Gulf of Thailand. Next we used a recently developed laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) method to assess the impact of metal pollution on coral skeletons taken from the Gulf of Thailand since the 1980s. The extent of anthropogenic contribution by riverine input to the gulf, including aerosol deposits, was assessed by comparing metal-calcium (Me/Ca) ratios of Khang Khao corals to those of Rukan-sho, a relatively unpolluted coral reef, Okinawa. In this comparison, high riverine inputs of Ba, V, Cd and Pb were observed from the Me/Ca values in the Thai coral samples. Since Ba concentration in seawater around Khang Khao Island largely depends on input from the rivers, especially the Chao Phraya River, the Ba/Ca ratios in Khang Khao corals reflect by the high concentrations of riverine input, showing cyclical variations like those of oxygen isotopes in the coral samples. The V/Ca ratios of Khang Khao corals showed a higher average value than that of the Rukan-sho coral, suggesting anthropogenic vanadium inputs due to fuel oil pollution in the Gulf since the late 1990s. Higher Cd/Ca ratios were observed in Khang Khao corals compared to that of Rukan-sho coral, indicating that the Cd concentration in the Gulf continuously suffered from anthropogenic input since 1983. The levels of Cd in the coral indicate a gradual decrease in the Gulf in the late 1990s, with a drastic drop in concentration from the 1980s. The historical variation in Pb/Ca ratios recorded in the coral skeletons suggests the Gulf of Thailand suffered from anthropogenic lead from 1985 to 2001. The Pb/Ca values recorded in Khang Khao Island corals suggest that the Gulf has been polluted by anthropogenic Pb from the early 1990s. After the use of leaded gasoline was banned in Thailand since 1995, the Pb/Ca in the Khang Khao Island corals showed a remarkable decrease, indicating that regulatory control has limited anthropogenic Pb inputs to the Gulf of Thailand. In conclusion, the coral archival record of the metals (V, Cd, Hg and Pb) strongly suggests the success of the environmental laws and regulations by the Thai Government introduced since the middle 1990s.