Spatiotemporal variability of oxygen concentration in coral reefs of Gorgona Island (Eastern Tropical Pacific) and its effect on the coral Pocillopora capitata

Abstract

Dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) is one of the main factors limiting benthic species distribution. Due to ocean warming and eutrophication, the ocean is deoxygenating. In the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP), deep waters with low DO (20 m depth and coincide with the deepest bathymetric distribution of scattered colonies of Pocillopora. Because DO concentrations in coral reefs of Gorgona Island were comparably low to other coral reefs in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and the hypoxic threshold of P. capitata was close to the minimum DO record on reefs, hypoxic events could represent a threat if conditions that promote eutrophication (and consequently hypoxia) increase.

Keywords

• Dissolved oxygen
• Hypoxia
• Respiration rate
• Upwelling
• Scleractinian coral