Ocean acidification is a serious and growing problem caused by the ocean absorbing excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

As CO2 dissolves in seawater, it lowers the pH, making the oceans more acidic.

Scientists predict that by the end of this century, ocean acidity will increase significantly, threatening marine life and ecosystems worldwide.

This problem especially harms marine animals that rely on calcium carbonate to build their shells and skeletons, such as shrimp, clams, mussels, and oysters.

Acidic waters make it harder for these creatures to grow and maintain their protective shells.

For example, shrimp larvae experience slower growth and lower survival rates, risking population declines.

Shellfish shells can dissolve in acidic conditions, risking both wild populations and valuable aquaculture industries.

These changes not only harm individual animals but also disrupt the coastal food webs and economies that depend on them.

Cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses are also affected, though less is known about their exact response.

Historical mass extinction events showed how acidified oceans caused massive die-offs of shelled cephalopod ancestors.

Today’s cuttlefish and octopuses may face behavioral stress and physiological challenges due to changing water chemistry, which could affect their survival and reproduction.

Since these animals are important predators and part of many marine ecosystems, their decline could have ripple effects.

Marine zooplankton, such as Arctic copepods, show metabolic stress under acidic and warmer ocean conditions.

These tiny creatures are key food sources for fish and marine mammals, so their decline threatens the entire marine food web.

The combined impact of acidification and warming can reduce survival and reproduction, creating a domino effect through ocean ecosystems.

Changes in ocean acidity can affect biological activities like primary production, but the local effects vary and are complex, especially in coastal areas.

Ocean acidification is a serious and growing problem caused by the ocean absorbing excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Title:

Content: The Sciences

The Late Permian Mass Extinction Explained

Burning coal caused the largest mass extinction in earth’s history — the Late Permian Mass Extinction, or the Great Dying.

By Gabe AllenJul 22, 2022 10:00 AM
(Credit: Catmando/Shutterstock)

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Mass extinctions are evolutionary turning points — brief moments on a geologic time scale that drastically change the course of life on earth. One moment in particular stands out. The Permian-Triassic extinction, aka the Great Dying, eradicated more than 90 percent of earth’s marine species and 75 percent of terrestrial species 252 million years ago. It was the deadliest mass extinction event in the history of our planet, and its legacy lives on in the flora and fauna of the modern world.

The climactic and geochemical triggers for the Great Dying are unsettlingly similar to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Global warming, ocean acidification and ozone layer-depletion caused ecological collapse.

The organisms that did recover from the extinction, did so slowly. Equatorial regions, which had been scorched beyond recognition, did not regain their characteristic biodiversity for five million years. Global ecosystems lacked both diversity and stability for at least eight million years following the event.

Survivors of the extinction event, though few, eventually repopulated the earth. These organisms are the ancestors of every living thing today. To paleontologists, the End-Permian Mass Extinction is the temporal boundary between the ancient paleozoic fauna and the modern fauna — a theoretical border between our world and a barely-recognizable predecessor.

Finding Precision

As recent as the late 2000s, the research community was significantly divided over what caused the Permian extinction. Some suggested that volcanism was at fault, while others suggested a meteor impact, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, caused the extinction.

Those that preferred the volcanic explanation, suspected the Siberian Traps, an expansive region of volcanic rock in present-day Siberia. The formation developed during an unrivaled period of volcanic rock on the ancient supercontinent Pangea.

“It’s the largest continental volcanic event and the largest mass extinction that we’re aware of on earth ever,” says Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a planetary scientist and professor at Arizona State University. “At the time, we didn’t know what caused either one or if they were definitively related to each other.”

In 2014, Chinese and American researchers made a breakthrough. The team extracted ancient volcanic ash from the Global Stratotype Section and Point for the early Triassic period, a site in Meishan, China that contains sediment that dates to the crisis unambiguously. By analyzing the uranium and lead isotopes contained in the ash, they put a relatively precise date on the extinction: 251.9 million years ago, give or take 70,000 years.

The next step was to date the Siberian Traps. Using the same method, the scientists analyzed samples from the site. “The bulk of this diffusive and explosive volcanism led up to the extinction,” says Elkins-Tanton, who was a part of the research team.

From these two dates, a timeline began to emerge. Intense volcanic activity on the ancient supercontinent of Pangea spewed magma through layers of basalt, coal and organic material. The combustion of these layers produced an immense amount of CO2 as well as other greenhouse gasses and chlorofluorocarbons.

Victims and Survivors

On land, both plants and animals perished in equatorial regions. At further latitudes, mosses and other lycopods began to dominate ecosystems that were once forested with conifers. Our ancestors, the tetrapods, died en masse. Survivors fled from the tropics towards the poles.

Like the mass extinctions before it, the End-Permian had an outsized impact on marine organisms. As CO2 from the atmosphere leached into the water, the ocean became more and more acidic. Simultaneously, high temperatures and cyanobacteria blooms consumed dissolved oxygen until there was little left.

Many organisms that had evolved to construct exoskeletons from minerals, found in ambient seawater, did not survive these changes in marine chemistry. The engineers of Permian reef ecosystems, rugose and tabulate corals, went completely extinct. Vast groups of externally-shelled cephalopods, ancestors of the nautilus, succumbed to the same fate. The End-Permian extinguished the last species of Trilobites as well, a group that had been on the decline since the Ordovician Mass Extinction.

Read more: The First Mass Extinction Event Explained: End-Ordovician

As with any mass-extinction, there were survivors of the Great Dying. Before the event, clam-like brachiopods were plentiful and diverse, but the extinction extinguished them in favor of their cousins, the bivalve mollusks. To this day, bivalves are widespread, while only a few orders of brachiopods remain.

Many researchers have speculated that the End-Permian may have catalyzed diversification among tetrapods. Though the extinction wiped many out permanently, the Early Triassic saw the creatures diversify and expand their ranges rapidly. This “radiation” eventually gave rise to archosaurs and later dinosaurs.

Drawing Parallels

The same factors that have driven anthropogenic global warming today drove global ecological collapse at the end of the Permian. An over-abundance of greenhouse gasses made the planet unlivable for most living organisms. Actually, the warming that initiated the End-Permian may have occurred at a much slower rate than anthropogenic global warming.

“It was the same climate change caused by the same greenhouse gasses as what we’re seeing today,” Elkins-Tanton says. “And it was almost the end of multicellular life on earth.”

However, climate scientists project that, if we can lower our emissions quickly enough, we can keep global warming to levels far below the ones that scorched the earth during the earth’s largest extinction event. It’s not too late to avoid total and complete ecological collapse.

“The rate of change might not have been as fast as today, but it changed the temperature so much that it’s really the worst-case scenario of what might happen,” David Bottjer says, paleoecologist and University of Southern California professor of earth sciences. “That’s why we should study it. To understand future scenarios for our climate.”

The future scenario, most-analogous to the End-Permian, would see humans continue to burn fossil fuels until few surviving organisms remained. It’s a scenario that may not represent the end of life on earth, but a fundamental change that would take millions of years to rebound from.

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What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

As CO2 dissolves in seawater, it lowers the pH, making the oceans more acidic.

Title:

Content: The Arctic region is currently undergoing rapid and significant changes, with acidification and warming occurring at alarming rates.
These shifts raise concerns about the resilience of marine communities in the face of such environmental shifts.
Marine zooplankton, especially copepods, play a crucial role in the Arctic food web.
However, differences in environmental conditions can disrupt zooplankton populations, leading to adverse consequences for the entire ecosystem.
Recent research has focused on understanding the extent to which copepods in early life are exposed to environmental stressors, as they represent a critical bottleneck in the copepods life cycle.
A study by Espinel Velasco et al.
(2023) Explore the responses of 4-day-old Kalanos Hyperborius Lenobli to acidification (pH 7.5 and 8.1) and warming (0 and 3 ° C), both individually and collectively.
The study revealed that the larvae 'breathing rates increased significantly when exposed to a combination of acidification and warming.
Surprisingly, exposure to these stressors individually did not produce the same effect.
Surprisingly, the researchers did not find any noticeable differences in fat content and fatty acid composition in the larvae across various experimental treatments.
Wax esters, which make up about 75% of the fat reserve, and high amounts of long-chain fatty acids 20: 1 and 22: 1, necessary for copepods to reproduce, have been detected in all treatments.
By highlighting the sensitivity of larvae to the combined effects of acidification and warming, this study aligns with a growing body of evidence from relevant research.
It highlights the potential impacts of global change on Arctic copepod populations and stresses the importance of understanding early life stage responses to environmental stressors.
Questions and Answers:
Q: What are zooplankton?
A: Zooplankton refers to small, often microscopic, organisms that drift into the ocean or other bodies of water and serve as one of the main sources of food for many marine species.
Q: What is the role of copepods in the Arctic food web?
A: Copepods, especially calanotic copepods such as Calanus Hyperboreus, are a critical component of the Arctic food web.
They serve as a vital link between primary producers (such as phytoplankton) and higher trophic levels, serving as a food source for various marine species.
Q: What is acidification?
A: Acidification refers to the process of increasing acidity (lowering pH) in seawater due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
This occurs as a result of human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels.
Q: How does global warming affect marine ecosystems?
A: Ocean warming can have various impacts on marine ecosystems, including changes in species distribution, changing reproductive cycles, and potential disruptions to the delicate balance of food webs.
Source: Frontiers in Marine Science, DOI: 10.3389 / fmars.2023.1240673

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Scientists predict that by the end of this century, ocean acidity will increase significantly, threatening marine life and ecosystems worldwide.

Title:

Content: Rapid warming of Indian ocean could lead to catastrophic outcomes: Study

The heat content of the Indian Ocean, from the surface to a depth of 2,000 meters, is currently increasing at the rate of 4.5 zetta-joules per decade.

Press Trust of India New Delhi
4 min read Last Updated : Apr 28 2024 | 1:54 PM IST

The Indian Ocean is expected to experience surface warming of 1.4 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius between 2020 and 2100, which will push it into a near-permanent heatwave state, intensify cyclones, affect the monsoon, and lead to a rise in sea levels, according to a new study.

The study, led by Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), showed that marine heatwaves (periods of abnormally high ocean temperatures) are projected to increase from 20 days per year (during 1970-2000) to 220-250 days per year, pushing the tropical Indian Ocean into a basin-wide near-permanent heatwave state by the end of the 21st century.

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Marine heatwaves cause habitat destruction due to coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, affecting the fisheries sector adversely. They also lead to the rapid intensification of cyclones.

The rapid warming in the Indian Ocean is not limited to the surface. The heat content of the Indian Ocean, from the surface to a depth of 2,000 meters, is currently increasing at the rate of 4.5 zetta-joules per decade and is predicted to increase at a rate of 16-22 zetta-joules per decade in the future, the study titled "Future projection for the tropical Indian Ocean" said.

"The future increase in heat content is comparable to adding the energy equivalent of one Hiroshima atomic bomb detonation every second, all day, every day, for a decade," Koll said.

The maximum warming will occur in the northwestern Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea, while there will be reduced warming off the Sumatra and Java coasts.

Amid the accelerated ocean warming, the seasonal cycle of surface temperatures is projected to shift, which could increase extreme weather events over the Indo-Pacific region.

While the maximum basin-average temperatures in the Indian Ocean ranged from 26 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius throughout the year during 1980-?2020, the minimum temperatures by the end of the 21st century will be between 28.5 degrees Celsius and 30.7 degrees Celsius year-round, under a high emission scenario.

Sea surface temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius are generally conducive to deep convection and cyclogenesis. Heavy rainfall events and extremely severe cyclones have already increased since the 1950s and are projected to increase further with increasing ocean temperatures, the authors said.

The increased ocean heat could also lead to a rise in sea level. Thermal expansion of water contributes to more than half of the sea level rise in the Indian Ocean, which is larger than the contribution from glacier and sea-ice melting.

The Indian Ocean Dipole, a phenomenon that affects the monsoon and cyclone formation, is also predicted to change. The frequency of extreme dipole events is predicted to increase by 66 per cent whereas the frequency of moderate events is to decrease by 52 per cent by the end of the 21st century.

The authors of the study predicted that ocean acidification will intensify, with surface pH decreasing from a pH above 8.1 to below 7.7 by the end of the century. Surface chlorophyll and net primary productivity are also predicted to decline, with the strongest decrease of about 8-10 per cent in the western Arabian Sea.

"The projected changes in pH may be detrimental to the marine ecosystem since many marine organisms, ?particularly corals and organisms that depend on calcification to build and maintain their shells, ?are sensitive to the change in ocean acidity. The change may be easier to fathom when we realise that a 0.1 fall in human blood pH can result in rather profound health consequences and multiple-organ failure," Koll said.

Bordered by 40 countries, and home to a third of the global population, changes to climate in the Indian Ocean region have major societal and economic impacts.

Currently, the Indian Ocean and its surrounding countries stand out globally as the region with the highest risk of natural hazards, with coastal communities vulnerable to weather and climate extremes.

Topics :Global WarmingIndian Oceanweatherheat

First Published: Apr 28 2024 | 1:54 PM IST

Next Story

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

How does elevated water acidity affect fish ability to survive?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

This problem especially harms marine animals that rely on calcium carbonate to build their shells and skeletons, such as shrimp, clams, mussels, and oysters.

Title:

Content: There were 974 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 451,057 in the last 365 days.

Editorial: the changing carbonate systems in coastal, estuarine, shelf areas and marginal seas

Editorial on the Research Topic
The changing carbonate systems in coastal, estuarine, shelf areas and marginal seas

Global atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased from 320 ppm in the 1960s to the present-day value of 420 ppm, primarily due to anthropogenic activities. This increase influences the seawater carbonate system, impacting the marine ecosystem. There are still gaps that need to be resolved for predicting how these marine systems respond to current and future CO2 levels. Any actions to mitigate the change in pH will require adaptive management of multiple stressors across several spatial scales. Combined, these perspectives yield a more comprehensive picture of events during ocean acidification (OA).

This Research Topic brings together articles from different regions, including coastal, estuarine, and shelf areas and marginal seas, all susceptible to changing atmospheric conditions, riverine inputs, air-sea CO2 exchanges, and multiple acid-base reactions that can alter carbonate chemistry. Articles on the long-term trends of CO2 system descriptors and the interactions with calcifying organisms were also sought. The present Research Topic is primarily based on original articles devoted to carbonate systems in the marginal seas, but it is a pity that some interesting papers dealing with freshwater inflows, estuaries, and related coastal areas were not accepted.

Fransson et al. examined the effects of glacial and sea-ice meltwater on ocean acidification in the waters near the 79 North Glacier (79 NG) and the northeast Greenland shelf. The researchers investigated various ocean acidification factors and the influence of freshening, primary production, and air-sea CO2 exchange. One of the key findings was that the biological removal of CO2 through primary production played a crucial role in offsetting the negative impact of freshwater dilution on the aragonite saturation state (ΩAr), which is a measure of ocean acidification. This compensation effect was most pronounced in 2012, especially in the vicinity of the 79 NG front, where there was a significant presence of glacial meltwater and surface stratification. In 2016, a different scenario was observed, with a more homogenized water column due to sea-ice meltwater. In this case, the compensation effect of biological CO2 removal on ΩAr was weaker compared to 2012. The study also suggests that in the future, with ongoing climate and ocean chemistry changes, the increasing influence of meltwater may surpass the mitigating effects of biological CO2 removal. This could lead to unfavorable conditions for organisms that rely on calcium carbonate for their shells and skeletons. Thus, all the proposed factors need to be closely monitored as they could have significant implications for marine ecosystems and calcifying organisms in the face of ongoing environmental changes.

In a study by You et al., the researchers assessed ocean acidification in the Western Pacific using boron isotopic analysis in a large tropical coral core from Lanyu Islet in Southeast Taiwan. They used a well-preserved coral skeleton (Porites lobata) for detailed major and trace element analysis, including boron (B) and its isotopes (δ11B), as well as stable isotopes of oxygen (O) and carbon (C). Their primary objective was to investigate environmental changes during the period from 1991 to 1997. The coral records revealed a distinct temporal trend in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) based on elemental/calcium ratios on both annual and monthly scales. Notably, the most temperature-sensitive proxy, Mg/Ca-SSTs, indicated a significant warming trend during the study period. The researchers also observed subtle changes in the annual δ11B record, corresponding to a pH decrease of approximately 0.2 units. This change was consistent with other coral records in the Pacific, in-situ measurements of pH and pCO2, and model predictions, highlighting the impact of human-induced ocean acidification. When combined with Mg/Ca-SST data, the intra-annual coral data exhibited a clear seasonal cycle, with higher pH levels during the winter, aligning with surface ocean pCO2 patterns. These chemical and isotopic findings in corals underscore the value of marine biogenic carbonates as informative tools for reconstructing oceanic pH changes.

Rivaro et al. investigated freshwater inflow into the Ross Sea in Antarctica, particularly through the eastern gate and along the Ross Ice Shelf. They conducted a survey during the austral summer of 2019-20 to assess the contribution of Amundsen Sea Water (ASW) to salinity variations. The researchers used data on total alkalinity (AT), pH, temperature, and salinity to analyze the properties of the carbonate system, including total inorganic carbon, pCO2, and the calcium carbonate saturation state of aragonite and calcite (Ω), along with the Revelle factor. They also estimated anthropogenic carbon (Cant) using the TrOCA method to gain insights into the carbon cycle and its impact on ocean acidification due to atmospheric CO2 uptake. The study found that changes in the carbonate chemistry of surface waters were primarily influenced by physical properties. AT and pH were effective indicators of the entry of ASW, demonstrating limited mixing between different water masses in the shelf area. Additionally, shelf waters were enriched in Cant, leading to levels lower than what was estimated for shelf waters generated in the western Ross Sea.

Ingrosso et al. investigated the factors influencing the absorption of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Cant) in the Ross Sea, an area known for its capacity to absorb carbon due to its cold waters, high primary productivity, and unique circulation on the Antarctic continental shelf. The researchers focused on the carbonate system to assess the current levels of anthropogenic carbon and understand how physical and biological processes regulate Cant sequestration along the shelf-slope continuum. They found that the Winter Water mass, formed during convective events, contained high levels of Cant due to the mixing of layers during the cold season. In contrast, the older and less-ventilated Circumpolar Deep Water entering the Ross Sea had minimal anthropogenic carbon contributions. The study also revealed variations in Cant content between different areas, such as polynyas and the shelf break, influenced by their distinct hydrographic and biological characteristics. The intense microbial activity in these regions consumed a significant portion of particulate organic carbon, leading to the release of CO2 into the intermediate and deep layers of the continental shelf zone. The findings underscored the importance of summer biological activity over the Ross Sea shelf in facilitating the transfer of anthropogenic CO2 between organic and inorganic carbon pools. This process contributed to ocean acidification in the upper mesopelagic zone and the long-term sequestration of Cant in the deep ocean.

Hassoun et al. conducted a comprehensive review of ocean acidification (OA) research in the Mediterranean region using data from the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency’s Ocean Acidification International Coordination Center (OA-ICC) database and an extensive survey. Their analysis revealed several important knowledge gaps in understanding OA trends and biological impacts in the semi-enclosed and densely populated Mediterranean Sea. These gaps are attributed to disparities in OA research capabilities among Mediterranean countries and the intricate, long-term interactions among biological, chemical, and physical factors. The study highlighted an uneven distribution of OA research efforts across the region, with the Algero-Provencal and Ionian sub-basins being the least studied areas. Furthermore, the carbonate system in coastal zones remains inadequately quantified, and there is a scarcity of long-term time series data in the Mediterranean, making it challenging to assess OA trends along the coast. While certain groups of organisms, such as autotrophs (algae, phanerogams, phytoplankton), mollusks, and corals, have received considerable attention in research, others, including microbes, small mollusks (particularly pteropods), and sponges, have been relatively understudied. Despite available resources and agreements for enhanced and coordinated OA governance, there is a lack of consistent OA policies in the Mediterranean Sea. To address these challenges, the article offers recommendations based on their literature review and insights from the Mediterranean OA scientific community.

Curbelo-Hernández et al. conducted an analysis of the carbon dioxide (CO2) system, anthropogenic carbon (Cant) inventory, and air-sea CO2 fluxes (FCO2) in the waters surrounding the Macaronesian archipelago. They found that variations in CO2 levels were primarily influenced by temperature changes, biological activity, and advection processes driven by differences in the Canary Upwelling System, mixed layer depth, mesoscale activity, and circulation patterns. Surface CO2 levels (fCO2,sw) were found to be influenced by biological production and the injection of CO2-rich water in tropical waters, while temperature fluctuations played a significant role in subtropical waters. The study also examined the factors that control changes in the total inorganic carbon normalized to a constant salinity (NCT) in the upper ocean. The research revealed an increase in the uptake and storage of anthropogenic carbon compared to preexisting levels, as calculated using the TrOCA 2007 approach, which served as an upper limit for NCT. The importance of the organic carbon pump diminished in subtropical waters, while the carbonate pump had minimal contribution. Regarding FCO2, the area behaved as a CO2 sink during the winter, but strong outgassing was observed over the Cape Blanc filament. To enhance understanding in this region, the authors compared their data with existing datasets (SOCAT and GLODAP) and provided a new set of equations for calculating fCO2,sw, Cant, and FCO2 in the Macaronesian area.

All these studies emphasize the urgency of addressing ocean acidification and its multifaceted impacts on marine ecosystems. They call for continued monitoring, research, and international cooperation to better understand and mitigate the effects of rising CO2 levels on our oceans and the life they support.

Ogrinc N., Giani M. & Faganeli J., 2023. Editorial: the changing carbonate systems in coastal, estuarine, shelf areas and marginal seas. Frontiers Marine Science 10: 1325363. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1325363. Article.

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What do shellfish use to build their shells?

Acidic waters make it harder for these creatures to grow and maintain their protective shells.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

How does coastal ocean acidification affect shellfish?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

For example, shrimp larvae experience slower growth and lower survival rates, risking population declines.

Title:

Content: Home of the Day
Send Save Print PDF
In cooperation with the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and the Atomic Energy Agency
« Research » conducted a study on the impact of « acidification » on shrimp
The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), in cooperation with the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), completed a study project to investigate the impact of ocean acidification and ocean surface warming on the growth and abundance of local shrimp.
In turn, the head of the project, researcher Lamia Muslim at the Center for Environmental and Life Sciences Research at the Institute, said that there are many animals that contain in their skeleton or shell calcium carbonate, and changes in the pH of water can negatively affect these organisms, especially in the early stages of their life. The sea and some phytoplankton species, but that does not mean that this is a positive thing because the increased growth of these organisms can disrupt the food chain, biodiversity and ecosystem mechanisms and construction.
She added that the presence of large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to the occurrence of global warming and the rise of the surface of the oceans by between one and three degrees Celsius, and the rise of the water level to an amount ranging from 0.18 to 0.79 meters, which in turn leads to acidification and warming of the surface of the oceans, and therefore to change the chemistry of the ocean and threaten marine ecosystems.
She pointed out that the shrimp mothers were collected from Kuwaiti territorial waters during the breeding season to obtain eggs and shrimp larvae in sufficient numbers to conduct experiments on all stages of shrimp age, as the study experiments were conducted in the laboratories of the Institute in a controlled system simulating the expected climate changes in the future.
The results of the study confirmed that the warming of the surface of the oceans could have a greater impact than ocean acidification on the early life stages of shrimp larvae, as shrimp larvae exposed to high temperatures showed accelerated growth rates to reach the sizes of older shrimp, but with lower survival rates, it is very likely that lower survival and growth rates under future climate scenarios may lead to the emergence of smaller shrimp larvae. These larvae will undergo multiple molting processes over their life cycle making them vulnerable; furthermore, the study results suggest additional effects of combined exposure to ocean surface warming and acidification on egg-hatching success, survival, and shrimp larval development.
Al-Musallam said: “The study is fully consistent across the entire life cycle of the M Nair shrimp, where high mortality of larvae at low pH and high water temperature indicates a possible collapse of this species of crustacean under conditions of increased ocean acidification and future warming of the ocean surface, which also leads to a significant reduction in shrimp stocks in the Arabian Gulf due to overfishing or reduced larval growth due to climate change. ”
For his part, dr.
Dr. Saifuddin Iqbaluddin, from the Center for Environmental and Life Sciences Research, said experts regularly measure water temperature and pH levels and look at how marine life might respond to these changes in the coming decades.
Add a new comment
The comment received from the participant or reader is an expression of his own opinion and does not reflect the opinion of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Nahar
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At what stage of life are calcium carbonate-based organisms most vulnerable to changes in water pH?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

How does coastal ocean acidification affect shellfish?

Shellfish shells can dissolve in acidic conditions, risking both wild populations and valuable aquaculture industries.

Title:

Content: Newswise — STONY BROOK, NY, May 25, 2022 – While kelp is known as a nutritious food item for sea creatures and humans alike, harvesting kelp may be a new way to help keep bivalves such as clams and oysters – a more common food source and marine industry staple – healthy and more abundant. 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.

Published in Frontiers in Marine Science, the study also demonstrated that the deployment of kelp on an oyster farm nullifies ocean acidification and therefore protects bivalves against acidification. The process may also have additional ecosystem and aquaculture benefits, including the sequestration and extraction of carbon and nitrogen, and protection against harmful algae blooms.

For shellfish, one of the most serious climate change-related threats is ocean acidification. Carbon dioxide or CO2 levels in Earth’s atmosphere continue to rise, infiltrating oceans where it causes chemical reactions that lower pH and cause ocean acidification. For the past two decades, one of the most robust conclusions of ocean climate change research has been that increasing levels of CO2 in surface waters threaten shellfish that rely on higher pH waters to grow and survive. This threat is particularly acute in coastal zones where additional sources of acidity can further reduce pH and slow shell formation in shellfish, especially bivalves. And while many wild populations of bivalves have collapsed, a burgeoning wave of aquaculture in the U.S. and around the World has caused the global production of seafood via aquaculture to grow and now exceed wild capture.

“Despite this wave of aquaculture, the intensification of ocean acidification now threatens bivalve aquaculture and has necessitated a solution,” explains Professor Gobler, the Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation at SoMAS.  “We believe our work is foundational to a solution.”

In the study, titled “Kelp (Saccharina latissima) Mitigates Coastal Ocean Acidification and Increases the Growth of North Atlantic Bivalves in Lab Experiments and on an Oyster Farm,” Professor Gobler and colleagues conducted six experiments to assess the effects of elevated CO2 and presence of kelp (S. latissima) on the growth rates of three different species of bivalves: (Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica), blue mussels (Mytilus edulis), and hard clams / Northern quahogs (Mercenaria mercenaria).

In each of the experiments, acidification was significantly reduced with the cultivation of kelp. They furthered the research with the ultimate test – a field experiment at the Great Gun oyster farm in Moriches Bay, New York.

They found that during a one-month deployment, oysters that were surrounded by kelp enjoyed higher pH water and grew significantly faster than individual shellfish located further away where the pH of the water was significantly lower.

Professor Gobler and colleagues emphasize that these findings have powerful implications for oyster farming in coastal zones.

“We have been witnessing coastal ocean acidification for years and have documented its ability to slow the growth, and even kill off, shellfish. We began growing kelp on oyster farms to simply expand aquaculture, regionally. After seeing its ability to rapidly take up CO2 and improve low pH conditions, we knew it had the potential to benefit shellfish experiencing acidification. And while showing that in the lab was exciting, being able to improve the growth of oysters on an oyster farm experiencing coastal acidification proves this approach can have very broad applications,” explains Professor Gobler.

Overall, the research clearly shows, according to the authors, that “the cultivation of kelp constitutes an environmentally friendly means of protecting shellfisheries against present and future ocean acidification and other coastal stressors.”

Building on the work, helping the oyster farms

“We’ve helped grow kelp on 10 oyster farms across New York since 2018 and more and more aquaculturists have been hoping to incorporate kelp into their farms,” says Mike Doall, Associate Director of Shellfish Restoration and Aquaculture at Stony Brook University. “In addition to providing crop diversification and additive revenue streams, the ability of kelp to fight ocean acidification gives these oyster farmers one more reason to add kelp as a second crop.”

The recent study builds on other research by the same SoMAS group, which published a study in Harmful Algae in 2021. That study demonstrated that kelp has the ability to deter the intensity of harmful algal blooms, another environmental threat to shellfish aquaculture.

Such scenarios with kelp appear to create a win-win scenario for oyster farmers like Paul McCormick, owner of the Great Gun oyster farm where the current study was performed.

“Kelp looks to be the perfect complement to oysters on my farm,” says McCormick. “It grows during winter and spring, when the oysters need less attention, and there is lots of interest in kelp from restaurants. If it is offering protection to my oysters against poor water quality, well that’s another good reason to add it to my farm.”

Citations:

Young, C. S., Sylvers, L. H., Tomasetti, S. J., Lundstrom, A., Schenone, C., Doall, M. H., & Gobler, C. J. (2022) Kelp (Saccharina latissima) mitigates ocean acidification and increases the growth of North Atlantic bivalves in lab experiments and on an oyster farm. Frontiers in Marine Science, Volume 9 | Article 881254

Sylvers, P. H., & Gobler, C. J. (2021). Mitigation of harmful algal blooms caused by Alexandrium catenella and reduction in saxitoxin accumulation in bivalves using cultivable seaweeds. Harmful Algae, 105, 102056.

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Frontiers in Marine Science

How does coastal ocean acidification affect shellfish?

These changes not only harm individual animals but also disrupt the coastal food webs and economies that depend on them.

Cephalopods like cuttlefish and octopuses are also affected, though less is known about their exact response.

Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?

Historical mass extinction events showed how acidified oceans caused massive die-offs of shelled cephalopod ancestors.

How does coastal ocean acidification affect shellfish?

Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?

Today’s cuttlefish and octopuses may face behavioral stress and physiological challenges due to changing water chemistry, which could affect their survival and reproduction.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?

Since these animals are important predators and part of many marine ecosystems, their decline could have ripple effects.

Title:

Content: If we continue to live the way we are, I am worried for the people who will see the next 90 years.
The latest scientific explanation suggests that the biological world is on the verge of destruction.
The collapse has indeed begun, and it is bound to accelerate, leading to an increase in the scale of the collapse and its impact.
Everything that we depend on for our survival — what our environment has always given us — may begin to falter or disappear altogether.
The predicted disaster will be more devastating than Chernobyl or any event to date, not only causing floods, powerful hurricanes and summer wildfires, but also reducing the quality of life for each victim and their descendants, with irreparable consequences.
When the global ecological collapse is finally resolved and a balance is reached, humanity will live forever on a barren planet if it still exists on Earth.
2030s
Decades of large-scale deforestation and illegal burning in the Amazon basin by people who want to develop more land for agricultural purposes will reduce the area of the Amazon rainforest to 75% of the original forest by the 2030s.
Although still massive, this could be a tipping point in the Amazon rainforest, triggering a phenomenon known as forest dieback.
Forests suddenly become unable to generate enough water from the shrinking canopy to nourish rain clouds, and the most vulnerable areas of the Amazon rainforest degenerate first into seasonal drylands and later into savannahs.
The phenomenon of this decline is self-propelled — the more cases of blight occur, the more trees will die; as a result, drought will quickly sweep across the Amazon basin, causing severe damage.
The loss of biodiversity is devastating, with one in 10 known species in the world inhabiting the Amazon basin, representing innumerable local extinctions that create a domino effect across the ecosystem.
All wild populations will be severely damaged, and it will become increasingly difficult for each individual to feed and find a mate.
Perhaps some of the species used in medicine, new food, and industry disappeared before we even knew it existed, and the human cost was even more profound and heavy.
As the forests wither, the Amazon basin floods frequently, flushing the soil from tree roots into rivers; 30 million people may have to leave the watershed, including nearly 3 million native inhabitants; changes in moisture in the air could show signs of reduced rainfall across much of South America, leading to water shortages in many large cities, ironically because, As a result, the farmland developed in the forest is also dry.
Food production in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay will be significantly affected.
For the Holocene, the Amazon rainforest ’ s best environmental service is absorbing more than 100 billion tons of carbon.
Forest wildfires that occur in each new dry season release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, while the reduced capacity of forest photosynthesis means less carbon is absorbed by the region each year.
The extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will undoubtedly accelerate the rate of global warming.
On the other side of the globe, the Arctic Sea is expected to experience its first completely ice-free summer in the 2030s, making the Arctic open water.
Even if the sea ice that has been in the safe haven for many years, the thick ice layer freezes over and over again, it cannot avoid warming and may start to disappear.
The seaweed forests that lie beneath the ice fall to the ocean floor, affecting the entire Arctic food chain.
As the Earth's ice layer decreases, the white area will gradually shrink each year, which means that the solar energy reflected back into space will also decrease, and the pace of global warming will accelerate again.
The Arctic began to lose its ability to cool the Earth.
The 1950s
Forest wildfires and melting ice over the next three decades will dramatically increase carbon emissions in the atmosphere.
As always, the surface of the sea absorbs too much carbon, and carbon dioxide will form carbonic acid after it is dissolved in the water, first at the shallow beach, then into the ocean circulation, and finally throughout the water body.
By the 2050s, the entire ocean could reach enough acid levels to cause a catastrophic decline.
Coral reefs are the most abundant of all marine ecosystems and are particularly vulnerable to acidification.
Due to years of coral bleaching, rising ocean acidity makes it harder for coral reefs to repair their calcium carbonate structure.
In this era of warmer air and intense storms, coral reefs may collapse as a result.
It is predicted that 90% of the world ’ s coral reefs will be destroyed within a few years.
The oceans are also vulnerable to acidification.
Various plankton species at the bottom of the food chain also have calcium carbonate shells. An increasingly acidified ocean will inhibit its flourishing, and fish populations throughout the food chain will suffer from it, and the harvest of oysters and mussels will begin to decline.
The rest of commercial fishing and fish farming may begin to come to an end in the 1950s, with the lives of more than half a billion people directly affected, and some source of protein that humans have been consuming will disappear from our diets.
The 1980s
By the 1980s, global food production on land may be in crisis.
In the cool and affluent regions of the world, intensive agriculture has used too much fertilizer for a century, resulting in depletion of land forces, no vitality and no harvest; while in warm and poor regions, global warming will cause temperature rise, monsoon, storm and dry season changes, making farming doomed to failure.
Millions of tons of topsoil lost around the world could enter rivers, bringing flooding to downstream towns.
If current levels of pesticide use remain high, habitat loss continues, and pollinator diseases such as bees continue to spread, the disappearance of insect species will affect three-quarters of our food crops by the 1980s.
Harvests of nuts, fruits, vegetables, and oilseeds will be greatly affected if you can ’ t rely on the diligent pollination of insects.
At some stage, the condition may worsen while another disease is endemic.
We just learned that there is a link between the emergence of new viruses and the survival of the planet, with an estimated 1.7 million potentially human viruses hiding in mammalian and bird populations.
The more we cut down forests, expand farmland, and illegally trade wildlife to destroy nature, the more likely we are to cause another outbreak of infectious diseases.
2100s
The 20th century could set off a massive global humanitarian crisis, which would be the largest forced migration in history.
In the 21st century, coastal cities around the world are expected to face a sea level rise of 0.9 meters due to the slow melting of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and the increasing warming of the oceans.
Over five decades, more than a billion of the 500 coastal cities may have been affected by storm surges, but by the 20th century, sea levels will rise enough to inundate ports and flood hinterlands.
Ports in Rotterdam, Ho Chi Minh City, Miami and other countries will not be able to withstand flooding, so they cannot take risks and become uninhabitable.
Those who were displaced had to move inland.
But there is a more serious problem.
If all of the above had happened, the Earth would be 4 degrees warmer by 2010 than it is today.
More than a quarter of the population may live in places where the average temperature exceeds 29 degrees Celsius, and today only the Sahara Desert can reach this daily high temperature.
It is impossible to farm in these areas, and a billion rural people may be forced to find a better way out.
Areas where the global climate is still milder will be under enormous pressure from population migration, where borders between countries will inevitably disappear, and conflicts may erupt around the world.
In this context, the arrival of the sixth great extinction will become overwhelming.
(Excerpt from Living on Our Planet)
【 Introduction 】
Netflix documentary of the same name
Forest fires, Arctic ice melting, torrential rain, floods, high temperatures to jump electric connection...
Is the Sixth Great Extinction Coming?
The human mind!
A 100-year-old man who wants to save young people ’ s lives tomorrow.
This is the planet we live on, and we can only protect our future on our own.
★ British National Treasure Nature Science Moderator, Historian, Witness of Earth History
★ Awarded the Order of the Lord by the Queen of England
★ IMDb top ten films, four of which are his works
Breaking the Guinness World Record with 4 Hours of IG Tracking Millions
★ Twice winner of the Emmy Award for Best Narrator
He traveled to 39 countries and photographed 650 species.
There are dozens of animals and plants all over the world named after him.
“I ’ m 95 years old, I ’ ve been making nature documentaries for over 60 years, and I ’ ve been witnessing the change of the planet all my life.
Having witnessed the decline of the earth from its beauty to its present day, and watching the oceans, wastelands, rainforests, and glaciers disappear and destroy their habitats, I will surely feel guilty if I choose to ignore them. "
After 2020, we will experience the following:
By 2030, the Amazon rainforest will be 75% less able to produce water and absorb carbon dioxide, and the Arctic Sea will have its first ice-free summer.
In 2040, the permafrost of the North melts, releasing 1,400 trillion tons of carbon dioxide and accelerating climate change.
By 2050, the oceans will absorb too much carbon leading to acidification, serious ecological damage, and reduced fish populations.
In 2080, the world is plunged into a food crisis due to overuse, exhaustion of land and failure of farming.
By 2100, the Earth's temperature had risen by 4 degrees, most areas were uninhabitable, national borders had disappeared, and wars had broken out.
The sixth great extinction is coming.
This book is the life story of David Attenborough and tells how we committed this terrible disaster, our present predicament, and our vision for the future.
But we ’ re lucky if we act now, make changes, and fix everything.
Live on our planet and make it better.
There is still time and a last chance to restore this beautiful world.
The book will teach you to take action, and what the earth needs is your will.
【 About the Author 】
by David Attenborough
In 1985, he was awarded a knighthood by the Queen of England for his contribution to the filming of natural and historical documentaries. In 2020, he was selected as one of the “Top 100 People in the UK ”.
Born in 1926, he is a natural science broadcaster and historian.
In collaboration with the BBC Natural History Unit, he has written nine comprehensive documentary films on animals and plants on Earth, four of which are ranked in the top 10 of IMBD. He won the Emmy Award for Best Interpreter in 2018 and 2019, and produced Living on Our Planet in 2020, documenting his life ’ s testimony to the Earth and his future. Attention.
> Johnny.
by Jonnie Hughes
A science writer and documentary director, he produces science and natural history films for the BBC, Discovery, National Geographic and Netflix, and has been involved in the BAFTA award-winning BBC series The Hunt and Emmy Award-winning Our Planet.
【 Translator 's Profile 】
＞ CHEN Si-wah
Graduated from the Department of Applied English at Ming Chuan University, he is interested in reading and writing, and is now a freelance translator.
# Earth # 22nd Century # Sea Level Rise # Rainforest # Extinction

Marine zooplankton, such as Arctic copepods, show metabolic stress under acidic and warmer ocean conditions.

Which marine organism is vulnerable to increased levels of ocean acidification?

Which regions are most affected by ocean acidification?

These tiny creatures are key food sources for fish and marine mammals, so their decline threatens the entire marine food web.

The combined impact of acidification and warming can reduce survival and reproduction, creating a domino effect through ocean ecosystems.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

How does elevated water acidity affect fish ability to survive?

Changes in ocean acidity can affect biological activities like primary production, but the local effects vary and are complex, especially in coastal areas.