Ocean acidification and ocean warming constitute major threats to many calcifying reef organisms, including scleractinian corals. The combined effects of these two environmental stressors on the earliest life history stages of reef calcifiers remain poorly studied, particularly for Atlantic corals. Here, we investigate how acidification and warming influence the fertilization success, larval survivorship, and larval settlement of the threatened Atlantic coral, Orbicella faveolata. Gametes and larvae from O. faveolata were subjected to a factorial combination of warming (ambient versus + 1.5 °C) and acidification (ambient versus − 0.2 pH units) projected to occur by the year 2050. O. faveolata individuals were maintained in the same treatments throughout all early life history stages investigated. The fertilization success of O. faveolata was not affected by acidification, warming, or their combination. However, during larval development, warming caused complete mortality and prevented any subsequent settlement. Interestingly, these negative effects of warming were mitigated when combined with ocean acidification, such that both larval survivorship and settlement increased by 41% in the combined treatment relative to the isolated warming treatment. Our research suggests that temperature-induced increases in larval metabolism may be counterbalanced by acidification, which serves to reduce larval metabolism. Notwithstanding, larval survivorship and settlement were still reduced by 50% under combined acidification and warming relative to the ambient treatment, indicating that climate change will continue to serve as major stressor during the early life history stages of corals, jeopardizing the resilience of Caribbean reefs.

中文翻译：

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海洋酸化部分减轻了变暖对珊瑚（Orbicella faveolata）募集的负面影响

海洋酸化和海洋变暖对许多钙化珊瑚礁生物构成主要威胁，包括石珊瑚。这两种环境压力因素对珊瑚礁钙化器最早生命史阶段的综合影响仍然缺乏研究，特别是对于大西洋珊瑚。在这里，我们调查了酸化和变暖如何影响受威胁的大西洋珊瑚 Orbicella faveolata 的受精成功、幼虫存活和幼虫定居。O. faveolata 的配子和幼虫经历了预计到 2050 年发生的变暖（环境温度与 + 1.5 °C）和酸化（环境温度与 - 0.2 pH 单位）的因子组合。研究了贯穿所有早期生命史阶段的治疗。O的受精成功。faveolata 不受酸化、变暖或其组合的影响。然而，在幼虫发育过程中，变暖导致完全死亡并阻止了任何随后的定居。有趣的是，当与海洋酸化相结合时，变暖的这些负面影响得到了缓解，因此与单独的变暖处理相比，联合处理中的幼虫存活率和定居增加了 41%。我们的研究表明，温度引起的幼虫代谢增加可能会被酸化抵消，酸化有助于减少幼虫代谢。尽管如此，相对于环境处理，在酸化和变暖的联合下，幼虫的存活率和沉降仍然减少了 50%，