Tropical coral reefs are diversity hotspots, offering coastal protection, and sustaining important economic acitivities like fisheries and tourism. However, it is well-known that the reefs and the industries they support are under threat from number of human activities.
The ecosystem function of a coral reef depends on the 3D framework built by Scleractinian corals. Better constraints on the future of stony coral reefs can therefore only be made once we better understanding the influence of environmental change on skeleton construction.
Coral skeletons form the 3D structure of a Reef (Credit Wiedenmann D'Angelo)
Coral Reef Auquarium Facility at the UoS Waterfront Campus (Credit WIedenmann D'Angelo)
SEM image of the skeleton of Siderastrea sidereal showing variation in porosity between structural elements (wall on left and right, columella in centre)
Key Questions
1. How is coral biomineralisation influenced by environment? what “tools” are available for corals to build their skeletons?
2. How does this environmental sensitivity propagate into global patterns of diversity and survivability in the face of multiple anthropogenic stressors?
How do we do it?
Corals are facing increasing threats from ocean acidification, eutrophication, overfishing, sea level rise, and marine heatwaves (amongst others). These stressors effect key physioloigcal processes in reef building stony corals such as biomineralisation (skeleton building) and coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis.
In collaboration with The Coral Reef Laboratory at the University of Southampton we grow stony corals of a variety of species under controlled conditions. By subjecting the skeletons of the corals to analysis with a suite of cutting edge analytical techniques (micro-CT, boron geochemistry) we gain a uniquely powerful view of how evironment influences the processes of coral skeleton building..
Recent Publications
Standish, C. D., Trend, J., Kleboe, J., Chalk, T. B., Mahajan, S., Milton, J. A., Page, T. M., Robinson, L. F., Stewart, J. A., and Foster, G. L., 2024, Correlative geochemical imaging of Desmophyllum dianthus reveals biomineralisation strategy as a key coral vital effect: Scientific Reports, v. 14, no. 1, p. 11121, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61772-2, video here
Standish, C.D., Chalk, T.B., Saeed, M., Lei, F., Buckingham, M.C., D’Angelo, C.D., Wiedenmann, J., Foster, G.L., (2023) Geochemical responses of scleractinian corals to nutrient stress, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 351, 108-124, doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2023.04.011
Buckingham, M.C., D’Angelo, C., Chalk, T.B., Foster, G.L., Johnson, K.G., Connelly, Z., Olla, C., Saeed, M., Wiedenmann, J. (2022) Impact of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enrichment and skewed N: P stoichiometry on the skeletal formation and microstructure of symbiotic reef corals, Coral Reefs, 41, 1147-1159, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-022-02223-0
Corbera, G., Lo Iconon, C., Standish, C.D., Gracia, E., Ranero, C., Huvenne, V.A., Anagnostou, E., Foster, G.L. (2022) Glacial-aged development of the Tunisian Coral Mound Province controlled by glacio-eustatic oscillations and changes in surface productivity, Marine Geology, 446, 106772, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106772
Chalk, T.B., Standish, C.D., D’Angelo, C., Castillo, K.D., Milton, J.A., Foster, G.L., (2021) Mapping coral calcification strategies from in situ boron isotope and trace element measurements of the tropical coral Siderastrea siderea, Nature Scientific Reports, 11, 472, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78778-1
Knebel, O., Caravajal, C., Standish, C.D., de la Vega, E., Chalk, T.B., Ryan, E.J., Guo, W., Ford, M., Foster, G.L., and Kench, P. (2021). Porites calcifying fluid pH on seasonal to diurnal scales, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126, e2020JC016889, https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JC016889
Fowell, S, Foster, G.L., Ries, J., Castillo, K.D., de la Vega, E., Tyrrell, T., Donald, H.K., Chalk, T.B. (2018) Historical trends in pH and carbonate biogeochemistry on the Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, Geophysical Research Letters, 45, doi: 10.1002/2017GL076496.
Mollica, N.R., Guo, W. Cohen, A.L., Huang, K.-F. Foster, G.L., Donald, H.K., Solow, A.R. (2018) Ocean acidification affects coral growth by reducing skeletal density, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(8) 1754-1759, doi.10.1073/pnas.1712806115
DeCarlo, T.M., Gaetani, G.A., Cohen, A.L. Alpert, A.E., Foster, G.L., Stewart, J. (2016) Coral Sr-U paleothermometry: unprecedented accuracy of seawater temperature reconstructions by understanding biomineralization, Paleoceanography, 31, (doi:10.1002/2015PA002908).
Stewart, J.A., Anagnostou, E., Foster, G.L., (2016), An improved boron isotope pH proxy calibration for the deep-sea coral Desmophyllum dianthus through sub-sampling of fibrous aragonite, Chemical Geology, 447, 148-160 (doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.10.029.
