Coral communities around the world are projected to be negatively affected by ocean acidification. Not all coral species will respond in the same manner to rising CO2 levels. Evidence from naturally acidified areas such as CO2 seeps have shown that although a few species are resistant to elevated CO2, most lack sufficient resistance resulting in their decline. This has led to the simple grouping of coral species into “winners” and “losers,” but the physiological traits supporting this ecological assessment are yet to be fully understood. Here using CO2 seeps, in two biogeographically distinct regions, we investigated whether physiological traits related to energy production [mitochondrial electron transport systems (ETSAs) activities] and biomass (protein contents) differed between winning and losing species in order to identify possible physiological traits of resistance to ocean acidification and whether they can be acquired during short-term transplantations. We show that winning species had a lower biomass (protein contents per coral surface area) resulting in a higher potential for energy production (biomass specific ETSA: ETSA per protein contents) compared to losing species. We hypothesize that winning species inherently allocate more energy toward inorganic growth (calcification) compared to somatic (tissue) growth. In contrast, we found that losing species that show a higher biomass under reference pCO2 experienced a loss in biomass and variable response in area-specific ETSA that did not translate in an increase in biomass-specific ETSA following either short-term (4–5 months) or even life-long acclimation to elevated pCO2 conditions. Our results suggest that resistance to ocean acidification in corals may not be acquired within a single generation or through the selection of physiologically resistant individuals. This reinforces current evidence suggesting that ocean acidification will reshape coral communities around the world, selecting species that have an inherent resistance to elevated pCO2.

中文翻译：

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更大的线粒体能量产生为“获胜”的雌雄同体珊瑚提供了对海洋酸化的抵抗力

世界各地的珊瑚群落预计将受到海洋酸化的负面影响。并非所有珊瑚物种都会以相同的方式对不断上升的二氧化碳水平做出反应。来自 CO2 渗漏等自然酸化区域的证据表明，尽管少数物种对 CO2 升高有抵抗力，但大多数物种缺乏足够的抵抗力，导致其数量下降。这导致将珊瑚物种简单地分为“赢家”和“输家”，但支持这种生态评估的生理特征尚未完全了解。这里使用二氧化碳渗漏，在两个生物地理不同的区域，我们调查了与能量产生 [线粒体电子传递系统 (ETSA) 活动] 和生物量（蛋白质含量）相关的生理特征是否在获胜和失败物种之间有所不同，以确定抗海洋酸化的可能生理特征以及它们是否可以在短期移植。我们表明，与失败的物种相比，获胜的物种具有较低的生物量（每个珊瑚表面积的蛋白质含量），从而导致更高的能源生产潜力（生物量特定的 ETSA：每蛋白质含量的 ETSA）。我们假设与体细胞（组织）生长相比，获胜物种固有地将更多的能量分配给无机生长（钙化）。相比之下，我们发现，在参考 pCO2 下显示出更高生物量的丧失物种在特定区域 ETSA 中经历了生物量损失和可变响应，这不会在短期（4-5 个月）或之后转化为生物量特定 ETSA 的增加。甚至终生适应升高的 pCO2 条件。我们的研究结果表明，珊瑚对海洋酸化的抵抗力可能无法在一代人内或通过选择具有生理抵抗力的个体获得。这加强了目前的证据，表明海洋酸化将重塑世界各地的珊瑚群落，选择对 pCO2 升高具有固有抵抗力的物种。