Christopher Edward Cornwall

Christopher Edward Cornwall
Victoria University of Wellington · School of Biological Sciences

PhD

About

112
Publications
34,299
Reads
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4,516
Citations
Introduction
I examine how kelp forests and coral reefs function today and how this will be altered by future climate change. Recent work focuses on determining mechanism of resistance/tolerance against climate change exploring the role of organism physiological, adaptive/acclamatory processes, and environmental interactions.
Additional affiliations
June 2013 - March 2015
University of Tasmania
Position
  • Research Fellow
Description
  • Effects of hydrodynamics and ocean acidification on macroalgae
March 2015 - March 2018
University of Western Australia
Position
  • Research Fellow
Description
  • Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Effects of ocean acidification on coralline algal physiology
Education
January 2010 - January 2013
University of Otago
Field of study
  • Botany
March 2005 - March 2007
Victoria University of Wellington
Field of study
  • Marine Biology
March 2002 - December 2004
Victoria University of Wellington
Field of study
  • Marine Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation

Publications

Publications (112)
Article
Full-text available
Crustose coralline algae play a crucial role in the building of reefs in the photic zones of nearshore ecosystems globally, and are highly susceptible to ocean acidification1–3. Nevertheless, the extent to which ecologically important crustose coralline algae can gain tolerance to ocean acidification over multiple generations of exposure is unknown...
Article
Full-text available
Significance The growth of coral reefs is threatened by the dual stressors of ocean warming and acidification. Despite a wealth of studies assessing the impacts of climate change on individual taxa, projections of their impacts on coral reef net carbonate production are limited. By projecting impacts across 233 different locations, we demonstrate t...
Article
Ocean acidification (OA) is a major threat to the persistence of biogenic reefs throughout the world's ocean. Coralline algae are comprised of high magnesium calcite and have long been considered one of the most susceptible taxa to the negative impacts of OA. We summarize these impacts and explore the causes of variability in coralline algal respon...
Article
Full-text available
Projecting the effects of climate change on net reef calcium carbonate production is critical to understanding the future impacts on ecosystem function, but prior estimates have not included corals' natural adaptive capacity to such change. Here we estimate how the ability of symbionts to evolve tolerance to heat stress, or for coral hosts to shuff...
Article
Full-text available
Warm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented human-driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. These impacts may drive coral ecosystems past critical thresholds, beyond which the system reorganises, often abruptly and potentially irreversibly; this is what the In...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification can negatively affect a broad range of physiological processes in marine shelled molluscs. Marine bioeroding organisms could, in contrast, benefit from ocean acidification due to reduced energetic costs of bioerosion. Ocean acidification could thus exacerbate negative effects (e.g. reduced growth) of ocean acidification and shel...
Article
Full-text available
Kelp forests are productive and biodiverse ecosystems with high ecological, cultural, and economic importance. However, the high sensitivity of kelp to water temperature means that these ecosystems are vulnerable to marine heatwaves (MHWs), especially at the equatorward edge of their range. To date, few laboratory studies have compared the effects...
Preprint
Full-text available
Past coral range expansions suggest that high-latitude environments may serve as refugia, potentially buffering tropical biodiversity loss due to climate change. We explore this possibility for corals globally, using a dynamical metacommunity model incorporating temperature, light intensity, pH, and four distinct, interacting coral assemblages. Thi...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification (OA) is predicted to cause profound shifts in many marine ecosystems by impairing the ability of calcareous taxa to calcify and grow and by influencing the physiology of many others. In both calcifying and non-calcifying taxa, ocean acidification could further impair the ability of marine life to regulate internal pH and thus me...
Preprint
Full-text available
Warm-water coral reefs are facing unprecedented Anthropogenic driven threats to their continued existence as biodiverse, functional ecosystems upon which hundreds of millions of people rely. Determining the tipping point thresholds of coral reef ecosystems requires robust assessment of multiple stressors and their interactive effects. We draw upon...
Article
Full-text available
A descriptive model of calcification in the coralline red algae is integral to understanding their contributions to marine geochemistry, the responses of seascapes to global change, and their own evolution and ecology. Yet, the development of a holistic model of this process has so far been limited by the intrinsic challenge of assembling multiple...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Essential for healthy oceans, coastal communities, fisheries, economies, and marine biodiversity from the subtropics to the polar regions, kelp forests are an integral and threatened ocean ecosystem. Their benefits are connected to over 740 million people who live beside a kelp forest, and their economic potential is valued at least 500 billion USD...
Article
Full-text available
Marine kelp forests cover 1/3 of our world's coastlines, are heralded as a nature-based solution to address socio-environmental issues, connect hundreds of millions of people with the ocean, and support a rich web of biodiversity throughout our oceans. But they are increasingly threatened with some areas reporting over 90% declines in kelp forest c...
Preprint
Full-text available
Ocean acidification is predicted to cause profound shifts in many marine ecosystems by impairing the ability of calcareous taxa to calcify and grow, and by influencing the photo-physiology of many others. In both calcifying and non-calcifying taxa, ocean acidification could further impair the ability of marine life to regulate internal pH, and thus...
Article
Bioeroding sponges can cause extensive damage to aquaculture and wild shellfish fisheries. It has been suggested that heavy sponge infestations that reach the inner cavity of oysters may trigger shell repair and lead to adductor detachment. Consequently, energy provision into shell repair could reduce the energy available for other physiological pr...
Article
Full-text available
Coralline algae are an essential element of benthic ecosystems throughout the ocean's photic zone. Yet, the role of light in shaping the physiology of coralline algae from cold-water, low-light habitats is poorly understood. Here, we assess the calcification physiology of five cool temperate coralline algae in response to different irradiance level...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding the drivers of net coral reef calcium carbonate production is increasingly important as ocean warming, acidification, and other anthropogenic stressors threaten the maintenance of coral reef structures and the services these ecosystems provide. Despite intense research effort on coral reef calcium carbonate production, the inclusion o...
Article
Full-text available
The worldwide decline of coral reefs has renewed interest in coral communities at the edge of environmental limits because they have the potential to serve as resilience hotspots and climate change refugia, and can provide insights into how coral reefs might function in future ocean conditions. These coral communities are often referred to as margi...
Article
Split-plot experimental data are often analyzed as if the data came from a completely randomized design. As is well known, ignoring the different levels of randomization and replication can lead to serious inferential errors. However, in some experiments, including many of the ocean global change experiments that motivated this research, variation...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean warming (OW) and marine heatwaves (MHWs) rapidly transform marine ecosystems, especially when they impact keystone or foundation species. Foundation species such as kelps, fucoids and corals are highly sensitive to heat stress, which threatens the future of temperate seaweed forests and tropical reefs. However, functioning and resilience of t...
Preprint
Full-text available
Understanding the drivers of net coral reef calcium carbonate production is increasingly important as ocean warming, acidification, and other anthropogenic stressors threaten the maintenance of coral reef structures and the services these ecosystems provide. Despite intense research effort on coral reef calcium carbonate production, the inclusion o...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean warming is transforming the world’s coral reefs, which are governed by the growth of marine calcifiers, most notably branching corals. Critical to skeletal growth is the corals’ regulation of their internal chemistry to promote calcification. Here we investigate the effects of temperature and light on the calcifying fluid chemistry (using bor...
Article
Ocean warming (OW) and acidification (OA) are two of the greatest global threats to the persistence of coral reefs. Calcifying reef taxa such as corals and coralline algae provide the essential substrate and habitat in tropical reefs but are at particular risk due to their susceptibility to both OW and OA. OW poses the greater threat to future reef...
Article
Full-text available
Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems with immense ecological, economic and cultural value, but globally their carbonate-based skeletal construction is threatened by ocean acidification (OA). Identifying coral species that have specialised mechanisms to maintain high rates of calcification in the face of declining seawater pH is of paramount importance...
Preprint
Full-text available
Coralline algae are an essential element of benthic ecosystems throughout the ocean’s photic zone. Yet, the role of light in shaping the physiology of coralline algae from cold-water, low-light habitats is poorly understood. Here, we assess the calcification physiology of five cool-temperate coralline algae in response to different irradiances over...
Article
Full-text available
The future of coral reef ecosystems is under threat because vital reef-accreting species such as coralline algae are highly susceptible to ocean acidification. Although ocean acidification is known to reduce coralline algal growth rates, its direct effects on the development of coralline algal reproductive structures (conceptacles) is largely unkno...
Article
Full-text available
Chemical changes in the diffusive boundary layer (DBL) generated by photosynthesising macroalgae are expected to play an important role in modulating the effects of ocean acidification (OA), but little is known about the effects on early life stages of marine invertebrates in modified DBLs. Larvae that settle to macroalgal surfaces and remain withi...
Article
Coralline algae perform important ecological roles in nearshore marine ecosystems globally by promoting the settlement of invertebrate larvae and enhancing biodiversity by creating habitat. However, these roles are severely threatened by global environmental changes. Most coralline algae are extremely difficult to identify, and DNA sequencing has r...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean warming, ocean acidification and overfishing are major threats to the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Driven by increasing anthropogenic emissions of CO2, ocean warming is leading to global redistribution of marine biota and altered ecosystem dynamics, while ocean acidification threatens the ability of calcifying marine organisms...
Article
Full-text available
‘Multiple drivers’ (also termed ‘multiple stressors’) is the term used to describe the cumulative effects of multiple environmental factors on organisms or ecosystems. Here, we consider ocean acidification as a multiple driver because many inorganic carbon parameters are changing simultaneously, including total dissolved inorganic carbon, CO2, HCO3...
Article
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In situ effects of ocean acidification are increasingly studied at submarine CO2 vents. Here we present a preliminary investigation into the water chemistry and biology of cool temperate CO2 vents near Whakaari–White Island, New Zealand. Water samples were collected inside three vent shafts, within vents at a distance of 2 m from the shaft and at c...
Article
Full-text available
Increasing concentrations of surface-seawater carbon dioxide (CO2) (ocean acidification) could favour seaweed species that currently are limited for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Among them, those that are unable to use CO2-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) to actively uptake bicarbonate (HCO3–) across the plasmalemma are most likely to benefit....
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Ocean acidification (OA) poses a major threat to marine organisms, particularly during reproduction when externally shed gametes are vulnerable to changes in seawater pH. Accordingly, several studies on OA have focused on how changes in seawater pH influence sperm behavior and/or rates of in vitro fertilization. By contrast, few studies ha...
Article
Full-text available
Natural variability in pH in the diffusive boundary layer (DBL), the discrete layer of seawater between bulk seawater and the outer surface of organisms, could be an important factor determining the response of corals and coralline algae to ocean acidification (OA). Here, two corals with different morphologies and one coralline alga were maintained...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification (OA) is a major threat to coral reefs, which are built by calcareous species. However, long-term assessments of the impacts of OA are scarce, limiting the understanding of the capacity of corals and coralline algae to acclimatize to high partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) levels. Species-specific sensitivities to OA are i...
Article
Full-text available
Coralline algae are foundation species in many hard-bottom ecosystems acting as a settlement substrate, and binding together and even creating reefs in some locations. Ocean acidification is known to be a major threat to coralline algae. However, the effects of ocean warming are less certain. Here we bring multiple lines of evidence together to dis...
Article
Full-text available
In many scientific studies, the underlying data-generating process is unknown and multiple statistical models are considered to describe it. For example, in a factorial experiment we might consider models involving just main effects, as well as those that include interactions. Model-averaging is a commonly-used statistical technique to allow for mo...
Data
R code and data for obtaining MATA-SBoot intervals for the hydronium ion example. (R)
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification poses a serious threat to marine calcifying organisms, yet experimental and field studies have found highly diverse responses among species and environments. Our understanding of the underlying drivers of differential responses to ocean acidification is currently limited by difficulties in directly observing and quantifying the...
Article
Full-text available
Reef-building corals are surrounded by complex microenvironments (i.e. concentration boundary layers) that partially isolate them from the ambient seawater. Although the presence of such concentration boundary layers (CBLs) could potentially play a role in mitigating the negative impacts of climate change stressors, their role is poorly understood....
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification is a threat to the continued accretion of coral reefs, though some undergo daily fluctuations in pH exceeding declines predicted by 2100. We test whether exposure to greater pH variability enhances resistance to ocean acidification for the coral Goniopora sp. and coralline alga Hydrolithon reinboldii from two sites: one with low...
Article
Ocean acidification (OA) is a major threat to marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs which are heavily reliant on calcareous species. OA decreases seawater pH and calcium carbonate saturation state (Ω), and increases the concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Intense scientific effort has attempted to determine the mechanisms via w...
Article
Full-text available
Ocean acidification threatens the persistence of biogenic calcium carbonate (CaCO3) production on coral reefs. However, some coral genera show resistance to declines in seawater pH, potentially achieved by modulating the chemistry of the fluid where calcification occurs.We use two novel geochemical techniques based on boron systematics and Raman sp...
Article
Full-text available
Evaluating the factors responsible for differing species-specific sensitivities to declining seawater pH is central to understanding the mechanisms via which ocean acidification (OA) affects coral calcification. We report here the results of an experiment comparing the responses of the coral Acropora yongei and Pocillopora damicornis to differing p...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of Review We investigate whether regimes of greater daily variability in temperature or pH result in greater tolerance to ocean warming and acidification in key reef-building taxa (corals, coralline algae). Recent Findings Temperature and pH histories will likely influence responses to future warming and acidification. Past exposure of cor...
Article
Full-text available
In 2015/16, a marine heatwave associated with a record El Niño led to the third global mass bleaching event documented to date. This event impacted coral reefs around the world, including in Western Australia (WA), although WA reefs had largely escaped bleaching during previous strong El Niño years. Coral health surveys were conducted during the au...
Article
Full-text available
The threat posed by ocean acidification (OA) to the diversity and productivity of New Zealand marine ecosystems is assessed in a synthesis of published trends and impacts. A 20-year time series in Subantarctic water, and a national coastal monitoring programme, provide insight into pH variability, and context for experimental design, modelling and...
Chapter
Full-text available
Ocean acidification is the sustained absorption of anthropogenically derived CO2 and is a major threat to marine ecosystems. Ocean acidification results in the decline of seawater pH (increase in protons) and carbonate ions and increased CO2. Added CO2 could benefit terrestrial forests, but changes in the concentration of any one of aspect of the c...
Article
Full-text available
Beneficial effects of CO2 on photosynthetic organisms will be a key driver of ecosystem change under ocean acidification. Predicting the responses of macroalgal species to ocean acidification is complex, but we demonstrate that the response of assemblages to elevated CO2 are correlated with inorganic carbon physiology. We assessed abundance pattern...
Article
Coralline algae provide important ecosystem services but are susceptible to the impacts of ocean acidification. However, the mechanisms are uncertain, and the magnitude is species specific. Here, we assess whether species-specific responses to ocean acidification of coralline algae are related to differences in pH at the site of calcification withi...
Chapter
Ocean acidification is the sustained absorption of anthropogenically derived CO2 and is a major threat to marine ecosystems. Ocean acidification results in the decline of seawater pH (increase in protons) and carbonate ions and increased CO2. Added CO2 could benefit terrestrial forests, but changes in the concentration of any one of aspect of the c...
Article
Full-text available
Macroalgae are generally used as indicators of coral reef status; thus, understanding the drivers and mechanisms leading to increased macroalgal abundance are of critical importance. Ocean acidification (OA) due to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations has been suggested to stimulate macroalgal growth and abundance on reefs. However, little...