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Background <p>Cold-water corals (CWCs) are key ecosystem engineers that create complex three-dimensional habitats much like tropical reefs, but in deep, cold seas. However, like other reef-building systems, they are increasingly threatened by climate change and ocean acidification. CWC communities in the Mediterranean Sea may be especially vulnerable because these waters absorb more atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> than the global ocean, making it a mesocosm that mirrors broader global trends affecting marine life. Since calcification is energetically costly and likely becomes even more demanding as pH and carbonate ion availability decline, understanding how the decrease in aragonite saturation state (Ω<sub>arag</sub>) affects biomineralization is essential for predicting the future of these corals.</p> Results <p>Here, we investigated skeletal structural and compositional changes of the scleractinian CWC <i>Desmophyllum dianthus</i> along an Ω<sub>arag</sub> gradient in the Mediterranean Sea using specimens collected between 400 and 1200&#xa0;m depth. Our findings indicate that skeletal porosity increases at the macro-scale with decreasing Ω<sub>arag</sub>, while micro- and nano-scale structural and compositional features remained unaffected.</p> Conclusions <p>The persistence of micro- and nano-scale skeletal features across an 800 m depth gradient suggests that <i>D. dianthus</i> maintains tight biological control over mineralization at these scales, even as Ω<sub>arag</sub> declines. This control does not extend to the macro-scale, where increasing porosity alters the skeleton’s overall architecture under lower Ω<sub>arag</sub>. <i>D. dianthus</i> thus appears to preserve the fundamental “building blocks” of its skeleton while changing its larger-scale structure, a decoupling that may make macro-scale porosity an early marker of acidification stress in CWCs.</p>

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Skeletal porosity of a cold-water coral increases with decreasing aragonite saturation state along a depth gradient in the Mediterranean Sea

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月19日

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  • Fiorella Prada,
  • Chiara Marchini,
  • Paolo Montagna,
  • Marco Taviani,
  • Giorgia Maestrini,
  • Arianna Mancuso,
  • Valentina Di Fazio,
  • Christian Ghiroldi,
  • Andrea Simoni,
  • Iryna Polishchuk,
  • Boaz Pokroy,
  • Raffaele Gattelli,
  • Giuseppe Falini,
  • Stefano Goffredo

摘要

Background

Cold-water corals (CWCs) are key ecosystem engineers that create complex three-dimensional habitats much like tropical reefs, but in deep, cold seas. However, like other reef-building systems, they are increasingly threatened by climate change and ocean acidification. CWC communities in the Mediterranean Sea may be especially vulnerable because these waters absorb more atmospheric CO2 than the global ocean, making it a mesocosm that mirrors broader global trends affecting marine life. Since calcification is energetically costly and likely becomes even more demanding as pH and carbonate ion availability decline, understanding how the decrease in aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) affects biomineralization is essential for predicting the future of these corals.

Results

Here, we investigated skeletal structural and compositional changes of the scleractinian CWC Desmophyllum dianthus along an Ωarag gradient in the Mediterranean Sea using specimens collected between 400 and 1200 m depth. Our findings indicate that skeletal porosity increases at the macro-scale with decreasing Ωarag, while micro- and nano-scale structural and compositional features remained unaffected.

Conclusions

The persistence of micro- and nano-scale skeletal features across an 800 m depth gradient suggests that D. dianthus maintains tight biological control over mineralization at these scales, even as Ωarag declines. This control does not extend to the macro-scale, where increasing porosity alters the skeleton’s overall architecture under lower Ωarag. D. dianthus thus appears to preserve the fundamental “building blocks” of its skeleton while changing its larger-scale structure, a decoupling that may make macro-scale porosity an early marker of acidification stress in CWCs.