Ocean acidification: the process, the future, and the past

Ocean Acidification: the Process, the Future, and the Past

Mieke VrijmoetCommunicating Science to the PublicNov 5 2013

The Mechanism

Image courtesy NOAA, Monteray Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Why does a change in CO3- matter?

Image courtesy US EPA

Coral Reefs and Ocean Acidification

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Will this happen everywhere?

Image courtesy Wikimedia commons with data via GODAP and Global Oceans Atlas

Paired with global warming….

● Changes to range, community composition, and increased stress

● Possibility of coral bleaching

So what does it mean for the future?

Wait… this has happened before?

Sharp decrease in calcium carbonate shows major decrease in calcifying organisms

Source: Zachos, Science, 2005

how do we know that?

Can we stop it?

Our future remains to be seen!

Works CitedFord, Mary S. (Jesse). “A 10 000-Yr History of Natural Ecosystem Acidification.” Ecological Monographs 60.1 (1990): 57–89. JSTOR. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

Goeij, Jasper M. de, and Fleur C. van Duyl. “Coral Cavities Are Sinks of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC).” Limnology and Oceanography 52.6 (2007): 2608–2617.

Print.

Hoegh-Guldberg, O. et al. “Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification.” Science 318.5857 (2007): 1737–1742. www.sciencemag.org. Web. 5

Nov. 2013.

Kiessling, Wolfgang, and Carl Simpson. “On the Potential for Ocean Acidification to Be a General Cause of Ancient Reef Crises.” Global Change Biology 17.1

(2011): 56–67. EBSCOhost. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

Kroeker, Kristy J. et al. “Meta-analysis Reveals Negative yet Variable Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Organisms.” Ecology Letters 13.11 (2010): 1419–

1434. Wiley Online Library. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

Lebrato, M. et al. “From the Arctic to the Antarctic: The Major, Minor, and Trace Elemental Composition of Echinoderm Skeletons: Ecological Archives E094-127.”

Ecology 94.6 (2013): 1434. Print.

Mcleod, Elizabeth et al. “Preparing to Manage Coral Reefs for Ocean Acidification: Lessons from Coral Bleaching.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11.1

(2012): 20–27. ESA Journals. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

Works Cited (continued)Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P. et al. “Global Climate Change and Acidic Deposition.” Research Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation 63.4 (1991): 735–746.

Print.

Orr, James C. et al. “Anthropogenic Ocean Acidification over the Twenty-first Century and Its Impact on Calcifying Organisms.” Nature 437.7059 (2005): 681–686.

www.nature.com. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

Pandolfi, John M. “The Paleoecology of Coral Reefs.” Coral Reefs: An Ecosystem in Transition. Ed. Zvy Dubinsky and Noga Stambler. Dordrecht: Springer

Netherlands, 2011. 13–24. CrossRef. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

Ries, Justin B., Anne L. Cohen, and Daniel C. McCorkle. “Marine Calcifiers Exhibit Mixed Responses to CO2-induced Ocean Acidification.” Geology 37.12 (2009):

1131–1134. geology.gsapubs.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

Wood, Hannah L., John I. Spicer, and Stephen Widdicombe. “Ocean Acidification May Increase Calcification Rates, but at a Cost.” Proceedings of the Royal Society

B: Biological Sciences 275.1644 (2008): 1767–1773. rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

Zachos, James C. et al. “Rapid Acidification of the Ocean During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.” Science 308.5728 (2005): 1611–1615. www.

sciencemag.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.