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Looking back into the future: Are corals able to resist a declining pH?

Aug 8, 2016

Tropical Porites corals adjust their internal pH to enable themselves to form calcium carbonate and grow under elevated carbon dioxide concentrations – even for a longer period of time. New investigations reveal that the corals’ adaptability has its limits.

 
Sam Noonan/AIMS Townsville
Korallen vor Papua-Neuguinea
In order to understand the ability of pH regulation in more detail, researchers of GEOMAR Kiel, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen and the Australian Institute for Marine Science have used the boron isotope method to examine samples of corals that have existed at natural carbon dioxide vents in Papua New Guinea for decades.

Porites corals keep their internal pH at a level at which they are able to produce calcium carbonate and grow despite higher
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