National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Calcification Rates of Crustose Coralline Algae Derived from Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) Deployed at St. Croix from 2014 to 2019

The calcification rate data described here are from calcification accretion units (CAUs) that have been retrieved (and replaced) at existing, long-term monitoring sites during the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) led NCRMP missions around St. Croix in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019 and processed at the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. CAUs are PVC settlement plates that facilitate the recruitment and colonization of crustose coralline algae, hard corals, and other reef calcifiers. Laboratory experiments show that CCA and coral calcification rates are strongly correlated with seawater chemistry, and shifts in carbonate chemistry conditions due to ocean acidification could lead to reduced calcification and accretion rates and ecological phase shifts in coral reef communities.

Coral reef calcium carbonate accretion rates can be estimated by measuring the change in weight of the CAUs between deployment and retrieval. Monitoring net accretion over successive deployments allows for the detection of changes in reef calcification rates over time. Five units were deployed on the seafloor at each CAU site for 4 years. The number of processed CAUs for a site may be less than the number deployed, either because the units were lost or damaged at sea and therefore not recovered, or in rare instances, due to errors during laboratory processing.

This study provides information about spatial and temporal patterns of reef carbonate calcification and accretion rates and serves as a basis for detecting changes associated with changing seawater chemistry due to ocean acidification. These data can also be used in comparative analyses across natural gradients, thereby assisting efforts to determine whether key reef-building taxa can acclimatize to changing oceanographic environments. These data will have immediate, direct impacts on predictions of reef resilience in a higher carbon dioxide (CO2) world and on the design of reef management strategies.

Tags: 743, algae, algal cover, algal growth, aoml, aquatic habitat, atlantic ocean, atlantic oceanographic and meteorological lab, atlantic/caribbean, biosphere, calcareous macroalgae, calcification, calcification accretion unit, calcification accretion unit (cau), calcification plate, calcification rate, carbonate chemistry, caribbean sea, coastal processes, coral reef conservation program, coral reef studies, coral reefs, corals, country/territory, crustose coralline algae, doc/noaa/nmfs/pifsc, earth science, east peninsula (east), ecosystem sciences division, encrusting macroalgae, esd, fleshy macroalgae, great pond bay (17n064w0018), great pond bay (south), in situ, laboratory analyses, lesser antilles, national coral reef monitoring program, national marine fisheries service, ncrmp, nmfs, noaa, numeric data sets, ocean acidification, ocean acidification program, ocean basin, ocean chemistry, oceans, office of oceanic and atmospheric research, pacific islands fisheries science center, pifsc, reef habitat, reef monitoring and assessment, salt river bay (17n064w0022), salt river bay (north), settling plate, sprat hole (west), st. croix, st. croix (17n064w0003), triennial, u. s. virgin islands, u. s. virgin islands (17n064w0000), u.s. department of commerce, u.s. virgin islands, united states of america, us doc, vegetation, virgin islands, zoology
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce