Ocean acidification

University of Queensland (UQ) researchers are planning to test whether the Great Barrier Reef will be able to recover from the effects of climate change.

The annual Great Barrier Reef coral mating season has begun and researchers on Heron Island off the Queensland coast are planning to capture coral sperm and eggs in order to subject them to different levels of carbon dioxide as they develop.

PhD student Alicia Lloyd from UQ’s Coral Reef Studies Centre says her team will collect coral eggs and sperm when the spawning begins to cross-fertilise with adult coral.

She says the aim is to grow coral in tanks with different levels of carbon dioxide and acidity.
Continue reading ‘Coral used to predict climate change effects (audio)’

A volcanic crater that recently emerged in the Mediterranean Sea has made it possible to experiment on how corals will be affected as the oceans become more acidic from carbon dioxide.

An Italian group will present their preliminary findings in Wageningen, Netherlands at the “Reefs in a Changing Environment” symposium (13-17 December) organised by the International Society for Reef Studies.

Preliminary results show that corals exposed to lower pH levels suffer higher mortality than corals at current pH levels. Seawater worldwide is predicted to increase in acidity (decrease in pH) due to carbon dioxide emissions, which dissolve in water and cause acidity to rise.
Continue reading ‘Acidic seas threaten coral reefs’

A free workshop on the topic of ocean acidification and its effect on seafood is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6th, 6p.m. to 8 p.m. in Portland, Maine at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

The Ocean Acidification Workshop for Gulf of Maine Seafood Producers is being hosted by Saint Joseph’s College of Maine and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, in partnership with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.

The goal of the workshops is to inform commercial fishermen and other seafood producers about ocean acidification.

“Ocean acidification is not something that we can ignore,” SFP outreach coordinator Amy Grondin wrote in an e-mail. “We need to consider it now and engage seafood producers, researchers and policy makers in finding solutions. Globally, the seafood industry has been a minor contributor to the causes of ocean acidification – we burn fossil fuels to catch fish – but we will be the first to see the implications of the lowering pH of our oceans.”
Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification could affect fisheries’

The Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that states begin identifying coastal waters impaired by ocean acidification. The idea is to find how pollution is affecting marine life.

When oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they become more acidic.

The carbon comes mostly from humans burning things to create energy.

The EPA wants coastal states to start tracking how carbon dioxide may affect the ocean ecosystem.
Continue reading ‘EPA wants states to track ocean acidification’

The Environmental Protection Agency’s memo on Ocean Acidification was part of settling a lawsuit that challenged the EPA’s failure to address the issue in the context of the Clean Water Act. To help us understand the topic from both coasts we spoke to Heather Goldstone of the Climatide blog that covers Cape Cod and Cassandra Profita of the Ecotrope blog based in Oregon.
Continue reading ‘Addressing ocean acidification on two coasts (video)’