Champagne Seas: CO2 Emissions Are Acidifying Our Oceans
by Cheryl-Samantha Owen
In our day and age the ugly head of increasing CO2 emissions rears mainly in its inherent part of global climate change, but recent findings by two separate teams of marine scientists have shown another dark and equally worrisome side to the effects of rising CO2 levels. Their results provide the first real-world insights into how shallow-water marine life communities might change with an acidifying ocean. Under this scenario creatures that have occupied the sea floor for almost as long as the oceans have existed will be unable to survive in increasingly acid waters and will be replaced by more acid-resilient species as they literally dissolve away.
Predictions of a doubling of pre-industrial CO2 levels by 2100, considerably higher than anytime over the past few million years, have severe implications for the principal sink of all this unnaturally made CO2. The world’s oceans, which absorb the gas, have felt the heat of a 30% increase in the concentration of hydrogen in their surface waters since the early 1900s, which has led to this higher seawater acidity.
Research on seabed ecosystems where volcanic CO2 vents create an acidic water column has shown a shift from coralline algae, corals, mollusks and sea urchins to seagrasses and highly invasive non-native algal species. The environment around these vents opens a window into the future of a more acidic ocean. It appears that the algal species benefiting from acidification do more harm than good to coral, a bad sign for coral reefs, which are already severely threatened by rising water temperatures. The leader of one of the international team of scientists Dr Hall-Spencer, from the University of Plymouth, states; “Our observations verify concerns, based on lab experiments and model predictions, that marine food webs will be severely disrupted and major ecological tipping points are likely if human CO2 emissions continue unbated.”
Life in the ocean survives in a constant stream of change relying on Mother Nature to keep the flux in balance, but already under a barrage of abuse from over fishing, destructive fishing methods, rising sea temperatures, coastal development and pollution our oceans are struggling for survival. Throwing acidification into the picture may just turn the blue yonder into a grey mess, seriously jeopardizing the health of the planet as a whole. Dr Guinotte, from the Marine Conservation Biology Institute states; “The risk of irreversible ecosystem changes due to ocean acidification should enlighten the ongoing CO2 emissions debate and make it clear that the human dependence on fossil fuels must end quickly.”
Predictions of a doubling of pre-industrial CO2 levels by 2100, considerably higher than anytime over the past few million years, have severe implications for the principal sink of all this unnaturally made CO2. The world’s oceans, which absorb the gas, have felt the heat of a 30% increase in the concentration of hydrogen in their surface waters since the early 1900s, which has led to this higher seawater acidity.
Research on seabed ecosystems where volcanic CO2 vents create an acidic water column has shown a shift from coralline algae, corals, mollusks and sea urchins to seagrasses and highly invasive non-native algal species. The environment around these vents opens a window into the future of a more acidic ocean. It appears that the algal species benefiting from acidification do more harm than good to coral, a bad sign for coral reefs, which are already severely threatened by rising water temperatures. The leader of one of the international team of scientists Dr Hall-Spencer, from the University of Plymouth, states; “Our observations verify concerns, based on lab experiments and model predictions, that marine food webs will be severely disrupted and major ecological tipping points are likely if human CO2 emissions continue unbated.”
Life in the ocean survives in a constant stream of change relying on Mother Nature to keep the flux in balance, but already under a barrage of abuse from over fishing, destructive fishing methods, rising sea temperatures, coastal development and pollution our oceans are struggling for survival. Throwing acidification into the picture may just turn the blue yonder into a grey mess, seriously jeopardizing the health of the planet as a whole. Dr Guinotte, from the Marine Conservation Biology Institute states; “The risk of irreversible ecosystem changes due to ocean acidification should enlighten the ongoing CO2 emissions debate and make it clear that the human dependence on fossil fuels must end quickly.”