Skeletal growth of all coral polyps was assessed by means of the buoyant weight (BW) technique (Jokiel, Maragos & Franzisket, 1978 ; Davies, 1989 (
link)), using a 0.1 mg resolution balance (Mettler Toledo
AB204 SFACT). An initial measurement of the BW was performed at the time when the organisms were distributed in the aquaria (T = −1), a second one when the experiment started (T = 0), and subsequent weighing was conducted every 3 to 7 months throughout the experiment: T1 (119 days from T0), T2 (221 days from T0) and T3 (433 days from T0). During these measurements, temperature and salinity of seawater were monitored continuously using a YSI-30M probe. The net BW of the corals (calculated as the total coral weight minus the weight of the coral holder) was transformed to dry weight using the density of aragonite skeleton for
D. dianthus species (2.78 g/cm
3; Movilla et al., 2014 (
link)). Calcification rates were normalized to the skeletal weight at the beginning of the experiment (T0) and subsequently, to the beginning of each sampling period (T1–T3). Results are expressed as the increase in mg CaCO
3 g
−1 d
−1, which can be translated easily into % mass increase d
−1 for comparison with other published studies.
Martínez-Dios A., Pelejero C., López-Sanz À., Sherrell R.M., Ko S., Häussermann V., Försterra G, & Calvo E. (2020). Effects of low pH and feeding on calcification rates of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus. PeerJ, 8, e8236.