Ocean acidification will likely almost triple by the end of the century—a drastic environmental change that could impact important marine species like fleshy seaweeds, algae that grow vertically and promote biodiversity in more than a third of the world’s coastline.
Tag: Ocean Acidification
How fish play a critical role in the oceanic carbon cycle
Three researchers from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science are conducting experiments to better determine the important role of fish play in the oceanic carbon cycle, studying everything from how much carbonate fish produce to the path of the minerals in the water column.
WHOI Projects Awarded Funding by the National Oceanographic Partnerships Program to Support Research and Development of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers are among the 17 projects that have been awarded funding by NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program on behalf of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).
CRISPR/Cas9 reveals a key gene involved in the evolution of coral skeleton formation
New work led by Carnegie’s Phillip Cleves uses cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tools to reveal a gene that’s critical to stony corals’ ability to build their reef architectures.
‘Sea butterfly’ life cycle threatened by climate change may impact Southern Ocean ecosystem
A team of marine scientists has examined life cycles, abundance, and seasonal variability of shelled sea butterflies in the north-east Scotia Sea, a region undergoing some of the fastest climate change in the Southern Ocean.
Malformed seashells, ancient sediment provide clues about Earth’s past
Nearly 100 million years ago, the Earth experienced an extreme environmental disruption that choked oxygen from the oceans and led to elevated marine extinction levels that affected the entire globe.
Climate Change Double Whammy Causes Unexpected Effects in Pacific Mussels
Comparative physiologists studied how two aspects of climate change—warming temperatures and increasingly acidic waters—may affect the ecologically important Pacific blue mussel (Mytilus trossulus), a foundational species in the intertidal environments of the northern Pacific Ocean.
Kelp Mitigates Ocean Acidification, a Key to the Health and Abundance of Important Shellfish
A new study led by Christopher Gobler, PhD, and a team of scientists at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) shows that the presence of kelp significantly reduces ocean acidification, a result of climate change.
Revealing the ramifications of ocean acidification for coralline algae
Scientists have long suspected that coralline algae are particularly sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry. Now, researchers have found that most species of coralline algae studied are negatively affected by ocean acidification.
Exploring, Monitoring and Modeling the Deep Ocean
The NSF is funding a team led by the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at UT Austin to implement a Deep-Ocean Observing Strategy (iDOOS), bringing together U.S. and international networks engaged in deep-ocean observing, mapping, exploration, modeling, research and sustainable management.
Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences joins ASU’s Global Futures Lab
In a major development in the bid to deepen the understanding of the role that the ocean plays in climate science, Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow announced today that ASU, a leading research university, has established a partnership with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), one of the longest-serving research institutes dedicated to studying ocean processes in the Western Hemisphere.
Natural cycles in the Gulf of Alaska accentuate ocean acidification
New research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks shows that the fluctuations of major wind and ocean circulation systems can temporarily accelerate or reverse the rate of ocean acidification in the Gulf of Alaska.
Corals Carefully Organize Proteins to Form Rock-Hard Skeletons
Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who championed the theory of evolution, noted that corals form far-reaching structures, largely made of limestone, that surround tropical islands. He didn’t know how they performed this feat. Now, Rutgers scientists have shown that coral structures consist of a biomineral containing a highly organized organic mix of proteins that resembles what is in our bones. Their study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, shows for the first time that several proteins are organized spatially – a process that’s critical to forming a rock-hard coral skeleton.
High CO2 to slow tropical fish move to cooler waters
Under increasing global warming, tropical fish are escaping warmer seas by extending their habitat ranges towards more temperate waters. But a new study shows that the ocean acidification predicted under continuing high CO2 emissions may make cooler, temperate waters less welcoming.
Fish sex organs boosted under high-CO2
Research from the University of Adelaide has found that some species of fish will have higher reproductive capacity because of larger sex organs, under the more acidic oceans of the future.
How to Identify Heat-Stressed Corals
Researchers have found a novel way to identify heat-stressed corals, which could help scientists pinpoint the coral species that need protection from warming ocean waters linked to climate change, according to a Rutgers-led study.
Ocean acidification causing coral ‘osteoporosis’ on iconic reefs
Scientists have long suspected that ocean acidification is affecting corals’ ability to build their skeletons, but it has been challenging to isolate its effect from that of simultaneous warming ocean temperatures, which also influence coral growth. New research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals the distinct impact that ocean acidification is having on coral growth on some of the world’s iconic reefs.
Protecting bays from ocean acidification
While there was a bay-wide decline of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) from the 1960s through the 1980s, restoring these once-abundant SAV beds has been a primary outcome of efforts to reduce loads of nutrients and sediments to the estuary and SAV cover has increased by 300 percent from 1984 to 2015. One of the largest recovered SAV beds lies in an area of the bay known as the Susquehanna Flats—a broad, tidal freshwater region located near the mouth of the Susquehanna River at the head of the bay.
MEASURING CLIMATE CHANGE
University of Delaware professor Wei-Jun Cai teamed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists, as well as professors and professionals from numerous research institutes, to conduct an in-depth study that looks at carbon dioxide uptake and ocean acidification in the coastal oceans of North America.
Ocean acidification impacts oysters’ memory of environmental stress
Researchers from the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences have discovered that ocean acidification impacts the ability of some oysters to pass down “memories” of environmental trauma to their offspring.
First-of-its-kind study examines toll of nuclear war on world’s oceans
A new study finds that a nuclear war could throw the world’s ocean chemistry for a loop—and coral reefs could pay the price.
Global Cooling After Nuclear War Would Harm Ocean Life
A nuclear war that cooled Earth could worsen the impact of ocean acidification on corals, clams, oysters and other marine life with shells or skeletons, according to the first study of its kind.