Ocean Acidification…The Real Apocalypse

“The Effect of Ocean Acidification may soon challenge marine life on a scale that the planet has not seen for millions of years.”

www.planetearthherald.com

 By: Ashlee Langford

Topic

While browsing online, I came across Planet Earth Herald reading about the 10 major environmental issues going on in the world right now. One caught my eye, ocean acidification. To summarize what the website says there are 3 major concerns. The first is that some creatures are showing evidence in health issues that is similar to that of osteoporosis in humans. The second talks about how much CO2 that our oceans can absorb which is roughly around 25% (of all human emissions). The third is how much acidification has increased in the last 250 years, the results state it has increased by about 30%.

So is ocean acidification a real issue, which requires immediate attention?

What exactly is ocean acidification? Well it is a byproduct of a reduction in the pH levels within the ocean over an extended amount of time, in terms of time probably decades and/or longer. This byproduct is caused by the ocean taking CO2 from the atmosphere, along with other factors that could contribute to its cause. Anthropogenic CO2 ocean acidification is primarily caused from human emissions. Here’s how it works: when there is extra CO2 in the atmosphere that isn’t initially absorbed it increases what we know as the Greenhouse Effect, now the surface of the ocean absorbs roughly 25% of the CO2, and the result of taking CO2 from the atmosphere brings a change in the oceanic and terrestrial mitigate climate changes. Within the last 250 years or so, the atmospheric CO2 levels have risen by about 40%, where pre-industry levels are were estimated at 280 parts per million volume (ppmv) to an estimated 384 ppmv in 2007. This increase is driven by our species consumption of fossil fuel/deforestation. These current results are the highest that we have measured to be experienced on Earth within the last 800,000 years, because of our species consumptions are faster than anything that has occurred for millions, possibly billions, of years.

However, research shows that humans are not the only cause of ocean acidification…so are underwater volcanic vents.

Evidence Continued

The understanding of these studies in the scientific community have been fast paced experiments that have been conducted within isolated elements of the oceanic ecosystem. For example, they show effects of acidification in shallow coastal environments where volcanic vents occur to lower the pH levels of the salt water. A typical normal pH is around 8.1-8.2, while in these environments the pH levels can fall down to 7.4 to 7.5 (being the minimum). Now here are the results of what this diminished pH level can have on marine life. To the knowledge of the scientific community studying this issue, some organisms like those from rocky shore communities are switching to other communities because they are lacking in certain elements. But some are being affected directly. Sea-grass production has been shown to be successful within pH levels of 7.6, while coralline algal were reduced. Another creature directly affected are gastropods, their shells have shown signs of dissolving where they have been exposed to periods of carbonate sub-saturation.

Due to these findings ocean acidification has become a top area in research, because of how the increasing CO2 levels will continue to rise within our current century. Not only the gastropods have shown sensitivity to the drop in pH but so have many other marine creatures, their responses in this current predicament could lead to important changes in the ecology of the marine ecosystems. Several hypotheses have been made in this research, one already beginning to show promise. Organisms which have calcium carbonate structures will be more directly sensitive to ocean acidification than those who do not.

 Conclusion

From the evidence I found I do believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is just cause in making this issue a top priority, not only is the acidification affecting our climate but it is affecting marine life. Which for some communities, and economies is a necessity for life.

Scientists are now working hard to find a solution to this problem, and I believe that an understanding of the general community will help as well. If we don’t come to a solution for this problem, evidence shows that levels with continue to increase exponentially in our current century and possibly even more into the next one.