Ocean acidification causes corals to calcify at reduced rates, but current understanding of the underlying processes is limited. Here, we conduct a mechanistic study into how seawater acidification alters skeletal growth of the coral Stylophora pistillata. Reductions in colony calcification rates are manifested as increases in skeletal porosity at lower pH, while linear extension of skeletons r...

The threat posed to coral reefs by changes in seawater pH and carbonate chemistry (ocean acidification) raises the need for a better mechanistic understanding of physiological processes linked to coral calcification. Current models of coral calcification argue that corals elevate extracellular pH under their calcifying tissue relative to seawater to promote skeleton formation, but pH measuremen...

The relationship between calcification and photosynthesis in coral was investigated using standard sea water with enhanced calcium concentration. In standard sea water at 23 degrees C with the calcium concentration increased by 2.5 mmol l(-1), incorporation of calcium into the skeleton increased by 30-61 %, depending on the method of data normalisation, and photosynthesis, measured as (14)C inc...

Calcification processes are largely unknown in scleractinian corals. In this study, live confocal imaging was used to elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of the calcification process in aposymbiotic primary polyps of the coral species Acropora digitifera. The fluorophore calcein was used as a calcium deposition marker and a visible indicator of extracellular fluid distribution at the tissue-s...

In this paper the alterations of the skeleton of a 42 year old, Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, Linnaeus, 1760) are described. The skeleton showed typical hyperostosis and calcification on the right side of the thoracic vertebrae, consistent with the skeletal disease known in human pathology under the name of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH, ankylosing hyperostosis). ...

The precipitation and assembly of calcium carbonate skeletons by stony corals is a precisely controlled process regulated by the secretion of an ECM. Recently, it has been reported that the proteome of the skeletal organic matrix (SOM) contains a group of coral acid-rich proteins as well as an assemblage of adhesion and structural proteins, which together, create a framework for the precipitati...

Coralline algae (Rhodophyta, Florideophyceae) are one of the most abundant organisms in hard-bottom marine photic zone where they provide settlement substrates, structure and shelter on rocky substrates. also play important roles tropical reefs, both cementing corals together producing substantial amounts calcium carbonate. The ecological coralline environment related to biomineralization proce...

Coral reefs are oases of life in the oceans, harbouring more than a quarter of all marine species. These vibrant ecosystems are founded on reef structures that are built by the CaCO3 skeletons of “stony” scleractinian corals. While productive and biodiverse, coral reef ecosystems are sensitive to many elements of global environmental change, including “ocean acidification” which impairs the cap...

Zooxanthellate corals are known to increase calcification rates when exposed to light, a phenomenon called light-enhanced calcification that is believed to be mediated by symbionts’ photosynthetic activity. There is controversy over the mechanism behind this phenomenon, with hypotheses coarsely divided between abiotic and biologically-mediated mechanisms. At the same time, accumulating evidence...