Heinz Foundation Director - Ocean Acidfication "Shaking Biological Underpinnings Of Civilization"

[hatrack]

EDIT

“We’re starting to see now a real connection to fisheries,” said Christopher Sabine, a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration scientist involved in the North American Carbon Project’s effort to understand the role of carbon in the oceans. Victoria Fabry, a biological oceanographer at the University of California, has found that the shells of pteropods - a set of 32 planktonic snails sometimes called sea butterflies - dissolve in acidic water, and that the layer of water acidic enough to do so is slowly expanding from the depths toward the surface as the ocean absorbs more carbon. If carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, surface water could be corrosive to shells by between 2050 and 2100, depending on different emissions scenarios.

Pteropods are widely consumed by a variety of ocean life, including several species of salmon. More than 60 percent of a salmon’s diet can be pteropod, according to the research of Katherine Myers, the principle investigator for the University of Washington’s High Seas Salmon Research Program. How acidification affects pteropods, and in turn salmon, will be the subject of future research. “We know the chemistry of it very well, and with a great deal of certainty, but what the ecological impacts will be on fisheries, on overall productivity, regional productivity, we simply do not know,” Fabry said. “This is a case where we do need additional research.”

The importance of pteropods to a popular food fish like salmon gives the acidification research a sense of urgency: The effects of acidification could creep up the food chain.

“And we’re at the top,” said Thomas Lovejoy, the executive director of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. He made his remarks at a Wildlife Trust lunch, and in an interview with The Daily Green. Lovejoy called the acidification of the oceans “the most profound environmental change I’ve encountered in my professional career,” and said the consequences for ocean life are “shaking the biological underpinnings of civilization.”

EDIT

http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/05/10/acidic-oceans-affecting-food-fish/

[enki23]

1. that may well be the most serious worry about the increased CO2 atmosphere

in a pessimistic scenario, warming might end up looking like a pesky side-effect.

[hatrack]

3. Yes, but "ocean acidification" is difficult to say, and sounds vaguely scary . . .

Therefore, don't expect to see the Kens and Barbies of Certainly Not News discussing it anytime soon.

[GliderGuider]

5. Hey, if it gets really bad

we can just dump in some baking soda, right? Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is...

[kestrel91316]

7. Along with some giant ice cubes.......

[kestrel91316]

6. Nobody likes to think about CO2 as a POLLUTANT.

[GliderGuider]

2. "Where do finfish get the calcium for their bones?"

That question was asked by a Canadian scientist from our Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a talk he gave recently. The answer, of course, is from the calcium carbonate of pteropod shells. He's terrified of acidification, and sees no real way to stop it.

[hatrack]

4. This will be a direct hit on everything - finfish, crustaceans, zooplankton, phytoplankton

Jellyfish may flourish, however, along with certain bacterial blooms, so it's not like things will be completely lifeless.

[kestrel91316]

8. Could lead to an increase in the population of cartilaginous fishes,

like sharks and skates and rays? The jellyfish are gonna have a picnic, too, I hear.