Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide gets combined with seawater, which results in carbonic acid. Carbonic acid lowers seawater pH levels. Seawater naturally buffers against pH changes, but that process uses up carbonate ions in the water, which are an "essential ingredient in the creation of calcium carbonate shells and skeletons produced by a large number of marine animals" such as coral, marine plankton coralline algae, and shellfish. As the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase, so do the levels in the ocean, which raise the temperature, which make it harder to live there. It is a vicious cycle, everything is connected. It’s hard to find something that has gone completely unaffected by the rising levels of CO2 on the planet.
Although every living thing in the ocean is affected by falling pH levels, one of the things most at risk are coral reefs. Coral reefs house the highest levels of marine biodiversity, they’re basically like rainforests under the water. They protect coastlines from ocean erosion and help reduce the size of waves coming in from open waters.
Coral reefs are facing a whole slew of anthropogenic issues, including (but not limited to), increasing size and frequency of storms, rising of sea levels and temperatures, and even depletion of the ozone layer. Those are just the global issues, on a local scale coral reefs face water pollution and destruction from fishers and careless tourists. Here is a link to my presentation slides.
Clara, I wrote a paper on this and it scared me! I never realized that our coral reefs protected our coastal cities from tsunamis. Your facts are great and your pictures are so helpful for such a confusing topic! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your facts about your topic! They really showed me how important it is to take care of the oceans. I didn't know that coral reefs did so much more than just contain huge amounts of biodiversity.
ReplyDeleteWow, I never thought about the effect that CO_2 could have on the oceans. They are so vast that it seems almost impossible to effect them, but I guess we did. It is horrible that the corral reefs are being so badly effected, especially because of how important they are to the ecosystem as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how important coral reefs actually were, except for providing habitats to many sea creatures. The images you used in this post made it quite easy to understand and interesting to read. Taking care of our oceans and the life they contain is extremely important.
ReplyDeleteBefore i took thia class i hadnt ever considered that climate change could effect the ocean other than by raising sea levels. And i didnt know that coral reefs were so important. Its so scarry that it will take so long for the damage to be undone!
ReplyDeleteThis is terrifying! I feel like even when we are being educated it is still just so surface level. There are so many aspects of climate change and the affects of it that we don't even know about! I wonder/I would like to know how the pollution in the ocean contributes to this as well.
ReplyDeleteI researched the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and it is very scary to see the effects of not only the temperature rise on glacial melt, but on sea acidification. Do you think ocean acidification will decrease as the sea levels rise? Perhaps the acidity will be dispersed throughout the 60 meter sea level rise?
ReplyDeleteI guess going back is not really an option. It remind me of Chernobyl and the radiation that is likely to stay there for tens of thousands of years. The facts that a lack of coral reef could affect wave patterns on the surface is an outcome that I had never thought of, which is a common theme with a lot of these topics.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to think that one of our seven natural wonders of the world are at risk (The Great Barrier Reef). Your presentation was very informative and I got to learn more in depth with coral bleaching. I remember reading briefly about it in my Biology class and I wanted to learn more about it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou did it great job explaining about the zoo xanthallae!
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