Burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are two major factors of human activities that contribute to the increment of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. The carbon dioxide is absorbed into the ocean resulting in a process called ocean acidification. It is a process where the carbon dioxide released dissolves into the ocean changing the chemistry of the ocean and leads to decrease in the pH of the ocean making the ocean more acidic. Ocean acidification is considered to be one of the most significant effects of climate change as 228 studies have been conducted to examine biological responses of marine organisms to ocean acidification and the results revealed that ocean acidification causes decreased in growth,
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According to National Ocean Service (NOS) (2016), the marine life is affected by increasing carbon dioxide in the ocean as carbonate ions which are an important building block of structures such as sea shells and coral skeletons decreases. Consequently, insufficient carbonate ions present in the ocean can make building and maintaining shells and other calcium carbonate structures more difficult. Other than that, lower pH of the ocean menaces the marine life such as corals, mollusks, and crustaceans as they face a great challenge when their calcium carbonate shells or skeletons dissolve in the acidic ocean. According to Rodolfo-Metalpa et al. (2011), corals, mollusks and other marine life have shown decrease in skeletal growth due to increase in carbon dioxide level in the ocean. Albright, Mason, Miller, and Langdon (2010) conducted an experiment on fertilization, settlement, and postsettlement growth of Acropora palmata to determine whether ocean acidification threatens successful sexual recruitment of reef-building corals. The results suggest that ocean acidification has the potential to impact multiple, sequential early life history stages, thereby severely compromising sexual recruitment and the ability of coral reefs to recover from disturbance. Other than that, coral reefs may destroyed faster than they can be rebuilt. Doney, Fabry, Feely, and Kleypas (2009) found that increase in the carbon fixation rate of some photosynthetic organisms are also caused by ocean acidification. However, photosynthetic algae and seagrasses require carbon dioxide to live so they would somehow benefit from higher carbon dioxide conditions in the
According to National Ocean Service (NOS) (2016), the marine life is affected by increasing carbon dioxide in the ocean as carbonate ions which are an important building block of structures such as sea shells and coral skeletons decreases. Consequently, insufficient carbonate ions present in the ocean can make building and maintaining shells and other calcium carbonate structures more difficult. Other than that, lower pH of the ocean menaces the marine life such as corals, mollusks, and crustaceans as they face a great challenge when their calcium carbonate shells or skeletons dissolve in the acidic ocean. According to Rodolfo-Metalpa et al. (2011), corals, mollusks and other marine life have shown decrease in skeletal growth due to increase in carbon dioxide level in the ocean. Albright, Mason, Miller, and Langdon (2010) conducted an experiment on fertilization, settlement, and postsettlement growth of Acropora palmata to determine whether ocean acidification threatens successful sexual recruitment of reef-building corals. The results suggest that ocean acidification has the potential to impact multiple, sequential early life history stages, thereby severely compromising sexual recruitment and the ability of coral reefs to recover from disturbance. Other than that, coral reefs may destroyed faster than they can be rebuilt. Doney, Fabry, Feely, and Kleypas (2009) found that increase in the carbon fixation rate of some photosynthetic organisms are also caused by ocean acidification. However, photosynthetic algae and seagrasses require carbon dioxide to live so they would somehow benefit from higher carbon dioxide conditions in the