Summary: The Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Marine Organisms

Superior Essays
The Effects of Ocean Acidification on the Southern Ocean Marine Organisms and the Ecosystem

The Southern Ocean has changed slightly over the last thirty years (Constable, A.J, Melbourne-Thomas J, Corney S.P, et al. 2014). Modern society burn fossil fuels which cause a steady increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide combines with seawater producing carbonic acid and causes seawater to become more acidic, a process known as ocean acidification (Cooley S, Mathis J, Yates K. 2013). Antarctic krill is one of many marine organisms affected by the ocean acidity changing. Pteropods, commonly known as sea butterflies, are a small shelled marine organism about the size of a pea, like krill they are a major food source for larger organisms, and the decreasing pH is causing their
…show more content…
One third of all atmospheric carbon dioxide ends up in the ocean (Saba G.K, Schofield O, Trres J.J, et al. 2012). Today the increasing oceanic carbon dioxide is causing a small decrease in pH leading to a slightly more acidic ocean, which is slowly affecting the more polar marine organisms. Antarctic krill, (Euphausia superba) is one of the key organisms required to keep a balanced, stable ecosystem. They are resilient creatures and survive in a range of depths in Antarctic oceans. A study observed the effect of different carbon dioxide levels on fertilised Antarctic krill eggs. At the lower levels of carbon dioxide, such as 380µatm and 1000µatm there was hardly any change observed in the growth of the krill embryos. At 2000µatm there was almost no development in the embryos (Kawaguchi S, Kurihara H, et al. 2011). This raises the question of will Southern Ocean carbon dioxide ever reach that detrimental state to completely wipe out the krill population? Although it 's unlikely to reach such a high level this century, it 's not an issue to be ignored as the threshold is there and a krill depletion would have

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The acidification of our oceans increases the likelihood of coral reefs to be destroyed or broken down due to erosion. These nearly extinct ecosystems that are either becoming unstable or are being destroyed forces species to find another environment to make their home or to adapt in. The low survival rate of coral reefs under such harsh conditions makes the survival rate of other organisms detrimental as well because it leaves them vulnerable with the reduced amount of living spaces for fish. Leaving fish open to predators, it also has a harmful effects on a fish’s organs. Even though fish do not have shells, they are still affected by the changes that ocean acidification can cause.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ocean Acidification Effect

    • 1820 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Ocean Acidification-Effect on Squid Ocean acidification is a direct result of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide CO2 concentration due different type of human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation (Halpern). The world’s ocean surfaces have gradually become more acidic due to absorption of excess anthropological carbon emissions throughout history. Since the Industrial Revolution during 19th century, the carbon dioxide level has been dramatically increasing. In addition, the CO2 concentration level has reached a constant of 280 ppm during Pre-Industrial and will reach 700ppm by the year of 2060 under the projections (Cooley). Figure 1 shows that as the carbon dioxide levels increase in ocean, the pH level decrease.…

    • 1820 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR), one of the world’s most precious marine ecosystems, has been deteriorating due to poor water quality (Kroon et al., 2016). One of the main reasons for this substantial decline in water quality over recent decades is agricultural runoff of nitrogen, pesticides/ herbicides and sediment (Figure 1). In fact, the water quality is most affected in the inshore areas in the southern and central regions near the most intensive agriculture. The impacts are biophysical in their effects on the marine animal and plants of the Reef. For example, coral cover declined about 50 percent from 1985-2013 (Brodie et al., 2013, p.2).…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ocean acidification can be defined as the change in ocean chemistry driven by the oceanic uptake of chemical inputs to the atmosphere, including carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur compounds (Guinotte and Fabry, p.320). Today, the overwhelming cause of ocean acidification is anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide. Over the past two-hundred years, the rapid increase in anthropogenic atmospheric carbon dioxide has directly led to decreasing ocean pH through air-sea gas exchange, driven by the land-use changes such as, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialization, and cement production (Guinotte and Fabry, p.320). The problem with the change in pH is that since the industrial revolution, the pH of surface oceans has dropped 0.1 pH…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Humans rely on the oceans as a resource for food; seafood is a common addition to people’s diets. However, ocean acidification will negatively impact ocean species such as shellfish as they will be unable to produce tough shells due to decreased carbonate ion concentrations. An example of a food source already impacted is oysters in the Pacific Northwest, where larvae have responded negatively to acidic conditions, leading to a decline in the survival and growth of young larvae (4). This has also threatened a large industry rhar has an overall economic value of US$278 million in 2009 (4). This presents an issue as mussels are a large food source for many sea creatures and could harm the ocean food chain, putting a strain on the seafood industry.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mass Ocean Extinction Extinction has occurred naturally throughout the history of earth, but something more sinister is brewing in our oceans. There have been five natural extinction events, and each event had a drastic on the ocean and marine life, especially coral reefs (Veron, 2008). Human impact is creating an extinction level event, an extinction rates of species in and out of the ocean have never been higher. This paper will focus on the causes of mass extinction, human impact, and effects on marine life. This paper will also draw on three separate experiments that show extinction rates in our oceans on a smaller scale.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Eugenie Clark Known to many as “ The Shark Lady”, Eugenie Clark received many awards, accomplishments, and contributed in more than one way to the biology community. More about Eugenie, her inspirations, accomplishments, contributions and where the world is at today based on the knowledge that has bee acquired over the years will be discussed in the following paragraphs. Eugenie Clark was born May 4, 1992 in New York City to her Japanese mother and American father. Her father passed away when she was a little girl and her mom later remarried to a Japanese restaurant owner in New York.…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Blue Heart: How the Ocean is Quickly Dying It has long since been advertised by profiting companies that the ocean is so vast that it is impossible for us to destroy it. This claim has been repeated so many times that it has become part of the general public’s core beliefs. However, this incorrect assumption is being pushed forwards by the agenda of corporations that wish to make use of the ocean and all its resources without thinking about the consequences. Corporations want us to believe the oceans resources will never run out.…

    • 1330 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ocean Acidification Lab

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Introduction The contamination of large bodies of water is becoming a greater problem across the world due to our rapidly increasing population. People commonly pollute these areas with their release of waste products and trash, and these contaminants can spread from small streams or lakes to oceans and complete ecosystems. The pollutants that are released into the water sources are often inorganic substances, and the dissolved forms of these compounds can become ionic cations and anions. An increase in specific cations, like the positive ion H+ can be especially detrimental to bodies of water due to it’s a contribution towards ocean acidification.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ocean acidification is a big problem that not many know about. And the very sad part about that is that we are the ones causes it and if maybe we knew the total extend of what we are doing to our planet and oceans then maybe we would change our ways. The burning of coal at huge factory’s and burning of fossil fuels are only just some of the many factors that continue to contribute to harming our oceans waters and all the creatures living in it. Huge carbon dioxide clouds end up drifting around and end up at sea and about 40 percent of the entire carbon dioxide end up getting dissolved in the ocean which makes about 96 percent of our planet.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ocean acidification is detrimental to calcium carbonate life. As CO2 is absorbed into the ocean, it has a chemical reaction with water and forms carbonic acid, lowering the pH. This acid reacts with the calcium carbonate that many shellfish need to build their homes and protection, forming a different type of molecule, and depleting the ocean’s calcium carbonate resources. While it was obvious in our lab that our four mollusks, wrinkled drill, cowrie, small oyster, and large oyster, were to be affected by the acids that they were submerged in, it was unclear who would be the worst off. Our results for the hydrochloric acid were fairly inconclusive, on average they were all similar, small and large oysters lost 11% mass, while the cowrie lost…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pisaster Giganteus

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Carbon dioxide emission from cars, industries, and coal plants increases amount of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide gas could also be absorbed by the ocean, creating a bicarbonate ion (HCO3-), decreasing the pH of the ocean along the way. This decrease in pH is thought to have contributed to the development of the SSWD epidemic. A possible explanation is that the higher acidity of ocean waters will lower the viral resistance in sea critters such as sea stars themselves. As discussed before, the fact that giant sea star (P. giganteus) and purple sea star (P. ochraceus) are considered to be keystone species will result in the imbalance in the environment.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another big problem to consider is that ocean acidification is an error in the carbon cycle. Carbon cycle refers to the biogeochemical cycle where circulation of carbon in the atmosphere occurs and in order to maintain the level of carbon in the atmosphere the ocean must take in any access remaining onto themselves. The carbon cycle procedure is quite essential for certain marine life-forms survival and creation. However, when the levels of carbon concentration increases, the H in pH also increases causing the pH values to decline. As the level of carbon starts to increase, it creates an acid called H2CO3 which inhibits calcification procedures on oysters and crustaceans (Kantharia 2015).…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ocean Acidification Essay

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    Increased ocean acidification isn’t the only thing affecting the ocean, but it is very problematic because it erodes aragonite which is a mineral of calcium carbonate. In other words it kills corals and causes the hard exoskeleton to erode. Action needs to be taken to ensure the survival of corals and the creatures that rely on coral reefs to survive. Coral reefs are sources of food for millions of people, but also are sources of medicines. As coral reefs disappear so do the organisms that are mutualistic to it.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    An unknown fact to most people is that our oceans are one of our main sources of oxygen, and also one of our main absorbers of carbon dioxide. However, due to the increase in carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the ocean absorption rates have also gone up, leading to our oceans becoming more acidic. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, our oceans absorb a quarter of the carbon dioxide that we release into the air, which is equivalent to about 2 billion tons per year (PMEL, “Ocean Acidification”). With all this absorption, the typical ocean pH has risen to 8.1, an increase of about 30% over the last 200 years.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays