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Increasingly acidic oceans harm marine life mongabay.com July 5, 2006 More bad news for the world's sea creatures Carbon dioxide emissions are altering ocean chemistry and putting sea life at risk according to a new report released today. Oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994 according to the report, resulting in increased ocean acidity, which reduces the availability of carbonate ions needed for the production of calcium carbonate structures. "It is clear that seawater chemistry will change in coming decades and centuries in ways that will dramatically alter marine life," said Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. "But we are only beginning to understand the complex interactions between large-scale chemistry changes and marine ecology. It is vital to develop research strategies to better understand the long-term vulnerabilities of sensitive marine organisms to these changes." "This is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher than at any point in the past 650,000 years. Oceans becoming more acidic
Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of fossil fuels combustion. Scientists estimate that the oceans have soaked up about half--118 million tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide--of all fossil fuel emissions over the past 200 years. Had oceans not absorbed this carbon, current atmospheric carbon dioxide would be much higher than the current 381 parts-per-million (ppm)--probably closer to 500-600 ppm say climatologists. This absorption has made the world's oceans significantly more acidic since the beginning of the industrial revolution. According to Mark Jacobson, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, between 1751 and 2004 surface ocean pH dropped from approximately 8.25 to 8.14. James Orr of the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory estimates that ocean pH levels could fall another 0.3 - 0.4 units by 2100. Threat to ocean biodiversity
Experimental studies conducted by Chris Langdon, one of the report's authors based at the University of Miami, show that "coral calcification consistently decreases as the oceans become more acidic," resulting in slower growth and less-dense skeletal structures of marine organisms. Reef ecosystems are expected to suffer especially because "corals may be unable to build reefs as fast as erosion wears away the reefs." "This threat is hitting coral reefs at the same time that they are being hit by warming-induced mass bleaching events," Langdon said. "Mass bleaching occurs when unusually warm temperatures cause the coral to expel the colorful microscopic algae that provide the coral polyps with food." Late last year a team of scientists writing in Nature warned that by 2100, the amount of carbonate available for marine organisms could drop by 60%. In surface ocean waters, where acidification starts before spreading to the deep sea, there may be too little carbonate for organisms to form shells as soon as 2050. The loss of these small organisms would have a disastrous impact on predators -- including salmon, mackerel, herring, cod -- that rely on them as a food source and could spell trouble for other species. "Decreased calcification in marine algae and animals is likely to impact marine food webs and has the potential to substantially alter the biodiversity and productivity of the ocean," said Victoria Fabry, an oceanographer at California State University, San Marcos, and another of the report's authors. Marine calcifiers are key to ecosystems beyond coral reefs and increasing ocean acidity threatens these reservoirs of biodiversity as well. In April, a study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment warned that coldwater reefs off the coast of Alaska and in the North Atlantic could be particularly affected. Related articles Coral reefs decimated by 2050, Great Barrier Reef's coral 95% dead Australia's Great Barrier Reef could lose 95 percent of its living coral by 2050 should ocean temperatures increase by the 1.5 degrees Celsius projected by climate scientists. The startling and controversial prediction, made last year in a report commissioned by the World Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Queensland government, is just one of the dire scenarios forecast for reefs in the near future. The degradation and possible disappearance of these ecosystems would have profound socioeconomic ramifications as well as ecological impacts says Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, head of the University of Queensland's Center for Marine Studies. Severe damage expected for Caribbean coral reefs in 2006 Caribbean Sea temperatures have reached their annual high two months ahead of schedule according to a report from The Associated Press. Scientists are concerned that the region's coral reefs may suffer even worse damage than last year when 70 percent of coral was bleached in some areas. Massive climate change rocked ecosystems, animals 55 million years ago Continued increases in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels could trigger large-scale changes in global biodiversity and require thousands of years of recovery according to recent research on an extreme global warming episode 55 million years ago. Rising carbon dioxide levels could devastate marine food chain Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could make oceans too acidic for marine organisms to produce protective shells according to research published in the journal Nature. Such a development could be catastrophic for the ocean's food chain and devastating for world fisheries. This article used quotes and information from a release from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. It also extensively used information from past mongabay.com news articles. Recommend this article? Comments? Digg this article | Hugg this article | Contact News options News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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