Mills Kimberley, Sosdian Sindia, Muir Duncan D, John Eleanor H, Santodomingo Nadia, Johnson Kenneth, Buse Ben, Waheed Zarinah
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.
Natural History Museum, London, UK.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 2;15(1):7365. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90614-y.
Marine calcifying organisms on coral reefs face significant threats from various anthropogenic stressors. To better understand how these organisms will respond to a rapidly changing ocean, it is crucial to investigate their biomineralization across different reef environments. Despite their resilience and potential as conservation hotspots, turbid reefs-projected to expand throughout the 21st century-remain understudied, including a limited knowledge of biomineralization processes within these environments. Herein, for the first time, we assess the crystallographic and geochemical signatures of aragonite giant clam shells Tridacna squamosa from high and low turbid reefs in the Coral Triangle. Shell composition is strongly influenced by turbidity and biominerals formed in a high turbid reef show a more organized crystal orientation and significantly lower element-to-calcium ratios (magnesium/calcium, strontium/calcium). We hypothesize that these variations are driven by physiological changes related to the trophic flexibility of T. squamosa, utilizing both autotrophic and heterotrophic mechanisms. Observed differences may have implications for biomechanical and defense responses of shells, important in their ability to survive future change.
珊瑚礁上的海洋钙化生物面临着来自各种人为压力源的重大威胁。为了更好地了解这些生物将如何应对快速变化的海洋，研究它们在不同珊瑚礁环境中的生物矿化过程至关重要。尽管浑浊珊瑚礁具有恢复力且是保护热点地区，但预计在21世纪将不断扩大的浑浊珊瑚礁仍未得到充分研究，包括对这些环境中生物矿化过程的了解有限。在此，我们首次评估了来自珊瑚三角区高浑浊和低浑浊珊瑚礁的文石巨蛤壳（鳞砗磲）的晶体学和地球化学特征。贝壳组成受浑浊度的强烈影响，在高浑浊珊瑚礁中形成的生物矿物显示出更有序的晶体取向，且元素与钙的比率（镁/钙、锶/钙）显著更低。我们推测，这些变化是由与鳞砗磲营养灵活性相关的生理变化驱动的，它利用了自养和异养机制。观察到的差异可能对贝壳的生物力学和防御反应有影响，这对它们在未来变化中生存的能力很重要。
