JavaScript requeired.
Geochemical Journal
Geochemical Journal An open access journal for geochemistry
subscription
Published for geochemistry community from Geochemical Society of Japan.

Skeletal isotopic responses of the Scleractinian coral Isopora palifera to experimentally controlled water temperatures

KOZUE NISHIDA, AKIRA IGUCHI, TOYOHO ISHIMURA, KAZUHIKO SAKAI, ATSUSHI SUZUKI
Geochemical Journal, Vol. 48, No. 4, P. e9-e14, 2014

ABSTRACT

We cultivated Isopora palifera clone colonies at six different temperatures for testing the utility of its skeletal δ18O as a paleotemperature proxy. Specimens cultivated at higher temperatures exhibited lower calcification rates, especially at 31.0°C, than those cultured at lower temperatures. The skeletal δ18O of the specimens cultured at 21.1-29.5°C correlated strongly with water temperature, and δ18O-temperature sensitivity was -0.15‰ °C-1. When we removed the thermal factor from the skeletal δ18O and δ13C trends at 21.1-29.5°C by subtracting the estimated equilibrium values of inorganic aragonite from the analyzed δ18O and δ13C values, we found that the calcification rate variation has little influence on the isotopic compositions of the specimens examined. Thus, the skeletal δ18O of I. palifera corals without severe bleaching can be a good temperature proxy at temperatures below ∼30°C.

KEYWORDS

stable isotopes, coral, calcification, bleaching, temperature experiment

All Issues

Current Issue:
Stats:
Impact Factor: 1.0 (2023)
Submission to final decision: 9.6 weeks (2022)
Geochemical Society of Japan

page top