Cha-ching! Oxygen is the universal currency on coral reefs, and the reef community is divided into the “haves” and “have nots”, and the “givers” and “the takers”. That is the message of a new review paper by Hannah Nelson and CESD’s Andrew Altieri. Dissolved oxygen is highly variable in reef environments, and can limit processes including calcification and photosynthesis, and can mediate relationships between corals and algae and disease.

Nelson, H.R., A.H. Altieri. 2019. Oxygen: The universal currency on coral reefs. Coral Reefs 38: 177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-019-01765-0