As the oceans rapidly grow more acidic, scientists are scrambling to discover how marine life is likely to react.
Schiermeier Q., 2011. Earth’s acid test. Nature 471:154-156. Article.
1 Response to “Environment: Earth’s acid test”
Comments are currently closed.
Below is a comment that will be shown on Nature’s web site.
———————————————————-
Thanks to Quirin for this very nice story. I would just like to mention that my quote should read “There is absolutely no doubt that most calcifying organisms will calcify less if conditions become more acidic”.
A few papers have shown no response of calcification to decreased pH (e.g., Rodolfo-Metalpa et al., 2010) and a few others have shown an increase, sometimes at a cost (e.g. Wood et al. 2008). However, two recent meta-analyses have demonstrated that, overall, calcification is negatively affected by ocean acidification (Hendriks et al., 2010; Kroeker et al., 2010)
Jean-Pierre Gattuso (gattuso@obs-vlfr.fr)
References cited
Hendriks I. E., Duarte C. M. & Alvarez M., 2010. Vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification: A meta-analysis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 86:157-164.
Kroeker K., Kordas R. L., Crim R. N. & Singh G. G., 2010. Meta-analysis reveals negative yet variable effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms. Ecology Letters 13:1419-1434.
Rodolfo-Metalpa R., Martin S., Ferrier-Pagès C. & Gattuso J.-P., 2010. Response of the temperate coral Cladocora caespitosa to mid- and long-term exposure to pCO2 and temperature levels projected for the 2100 AD. Biogeosciences 7:289–300.
Wood H. L., Spicer J. I. & Widdicombe S., 2008. Ocean acidification may increase calcification rates, but at a cost. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275: 1767-1773.