Fig 1.
Geographical location of the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands and Atolls where Calcification Accretion Units (CAUs) were deployed and recovered between 2010 and 2012.
Table 1.
Calcification Accretion Unit site locations, depth, reef zone, mean accretion rates, and standard deviation (SD).
Availability of benthic cover data from Line-Point-Intercept (LPI) surveys is indicated, Y: yes; N: no.
Fig 2.
CAU assembly unit: a) oblique view, b) side view, and c) in-situ image of deployed CAU unit.
(Photo and figure credit: Coral Reef Ecosystem Division, NOAA).
Table 2.
Functional group classification and mineralogical exoskeletal composition of the taxa comprising the benthic communities at study sites and recruited to the CAU plates.
NC: non-calcifying.
Table 3.
Water chemistry parameters from discrete water samples collected at the study sites during CAU recovery.
DIC: dissolved inorganic carbon.
Fig 3.
Spatial distribution and mean carbonate accretion rates derived from CAU deployments by study site (left panel) and island-wide (right panel).
Fig 4.
Graphic representation of the independent ANOVA model results illustrating the spatial variation patterns in net CaCO3 accretion rates among island and reef zones (a, b); islands and levels of wave exposure (c, d), and island geomorphology (volcanic vs. carbonate) and wave exposure (e). Islands graphed in order of latitude; asterisks indicate significant differences among bar pairs.
Table 4.
Summary results (F, χ2, R, and P values) of all independent ANOVA and correlation statistical tests run to analyze accretion, percent cover, and water chemistry data.
Fig 5.
Percent cover of the upper CAU plate and the surrounding site benthos derived from image analysis and LPI surveys (see methods for details) and classified by functional groups: Calcified invertebrate; CCA: crustose coralline algae; coral; calcified algal crusts; Halimeda; calcified macroalgae; sediments/other; fleshy macroalgae; turf; and non-calcified material.
BAK: Baker Island; HOW: Howland Island, JAR: Jarvis Island; JOH: Johnston Atoll; KIN: Kingman Reef; PAL: Palmyra Atoll; ROS: Rose Atoll; SWA: Swains Island; OFU: Ofu and Olosega Islands; TAU: Ta`u Island; and TUT: Tutuila Island.
Fig 6.
Percent composition of the various CaCO3 polymorphs computed based on the in-situ percent cover of the different functional groups recruited to the CAU plates and on the mature benthos (see methods for details).
Calcified: unidentified calcified material. BAK: Baker Island; HOW: Howland Island, JAR: Jarvis Island; JOH: Johnston Atoll; KIN: Kingman Reef; PAL: Palmyra Atoll; ROS: Rose Atoll; SWA: Swains Island; OFU: Ofu and Olosega Islands; TAU: Ta`u Island; TUT: Tutuila Island.