Kleypas JA, Buddemeier RW, Archer D, Gattuso JP, Langdon C, Opdyke BN
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA. Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047, USA. Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Observatoire Oceanolo.
Science. 1999 Apr 2;284(5411):118-20. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5411.118.
A coral reef represents the net accumulation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) produced by corals and other calcifying organisms. If calcification declines, then reef-building capacity also declines. Coral reef calcification depends on the saturation state of the carbonate mineral aragonite of surface waters. By the middle of the next century, an increased concentration of carbon dioxide will decrease the aragonite saturation state in the tropics by 30 percent and biogenic aragonite precipitation by 14 to 30 percent. Coral reefs are particularly threatened, because reef-building organisms secrete metastable forms of CaCO3, but the biogeochemical consequences on other calcifying marine ecosystems may be equally severe.
珊瑚礁代表了珊瑚和其他钙化生物产生的碳酸钙（CaCO3）的净积累。如果钙化作用下降，那么造礁能力也会下降。珊瑚礁钙化作用取决于表层海水碳酸盐矿物文石的饱和状态。到下个世纪中叶，二氧化碳浓度增加将使热带地区文石饱和状态降低30%，生物源文石沉淀减少14%至30%。珊瑚礁受到的威胁尤为严重，因为造礁生物分泌的是亚稳态的CaCO3形式，但对其他钙化海洋生态系统的生物地球化学影响可能同样严重。
