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Science 30 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5744, pp. 2204 - 2207
DOI: 10.1126/science.1113692
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Reports

Preindustrial to Modern Interdecadal Variability in Coral Reef pH

Carles Pelejero,1*{dagger} Eva Calvo,1*{dagger} Malcolm T. McCulloch,1{dagger} John F. Marshall,1 Michael K. Gagan,1 Janice M. Lough,2 Bradley N. Opdyke3

The oceans are becoming more acidic due to absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems is unclear, but it will likely depend on species adaptability and the rate of change of seawater pH relative to its natural variability. To constrain the natural variability in reef-water pH, we measured boron isotopic compositions in a ~300-year-old massive Porites coral from the southwestern Pacific. Large variations in pH are found over ~50-year cycles that covary with the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation of ocean-atmosphere anomalies, suggesting that natural pH cycles can modulate the impact of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems.

1 Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
2 Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB #3, Townsville Mail Centre, QLD 4810, Australia.
3 Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

* Present address: Institut de Ciències del Mar, CMIMA-CJIC, 08003 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pelejero{at}cmima.csic.es (C.P.); ecalvo{at}cmima.csic.es (E.C.); Malcolm.McCulloch{at}anu.edu.au (M.T.M.)

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