Ocean acidification

The CO2 emissions are changing the ocean, and quite possibly the seafood business with it.

This Thursday marks a meeting between scientists, government officials, and key actors of Norwegian aquaculture enterprises. The topic of discussion? The future of the seafood business.

According to the conference website, “Climate change is a compounding threat to the sustainability of capture fisheries and aquaculture development. Higher sea temperatures, acidification and rising sea level will affect the seafood business directly.”

Not only will our response determine the future competitiveness of out seafood business, but “the consequences of out actions or inactions will extend well beyond Norway´s borders…”. Associate professor Are Olsen will contribute to the discussion by presenting a key note talk on ocean acidification.

The ocean has absorbed around a quarter of our carbon emissions since the industrial revolution, by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. This process also leads to ocean acidification.

Continue reading ‘Ocean acidification and the future of the seafood business’

Ocean acidification is currently recognized as a major threat to marine ecosystems and has become one of the fastest growing research fields in marine sciences. The excessive amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is making our oceans warmer and more acidic, by changing its basic chemistry. Since the industrial revolution era, ocean water has become 30% more acidic – faster than any known change in ocean chemistry for the last 300 million years. Present predictions indicate that with the current carbon dioxide emissions, this acidity values may double until the end of this century, comparing to pre-industrial times. This profound and abrupt change in ocean chemistry can lead to a multitude of cascading effects in different ecosystems. Many of the physiological changes expected to occur may affect particular key functional groups of species such as phytoplankton (the base of marine food webs) and ecosystem engineers (responsible to create and modify habitats) like corals. These are good examples of calcifying marine groups, which are known to be particularly susceptible to ocean acidification due to their dependence on calcium carbonate (an element that is scarce under acidified conditions) to build their exoskeleton. Nonetheless, the tolerance and sensitivity of other marine organisms to changes imposed by ocean acidification is becoming increasingly evident.

Continue reading ‘Fish responses to ocean acidification comes with a cost’

Kiwi scientists are simulating how New Zealand’s coastal environment will respond to potentially disastrous effects of acidification caused by climate change.

The new study aims to pinpoint a possible “tipping point” at which ecosystems could collapse – potentially threatening our aquaculture industry.

Ocean acidification, often receiving less public attention than other major climate change impacts like sea level rise and violent storms, is increasingly concerning scientists because of the global threat it poses to coral communities and shellfish aquaculture.

It’s driven by increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is absorbed by oceans and causes pH levels to drop and waters to become more acidic.

Scientists are particularly worried about the survival of organisms that have shells composed of calcium carbonate, ranging from corals to shellfish, as it becomes more difficult to grow and maintain in a more acidic ocean.

In a new study, the first of its kind in the world, New Zealand researchers will test how microbes in near-shore sediments respond to pH levels simulated to reflect those projected in 50 years’ time.

Continue reading ‘Climate change: Scientists seek to find the ‘tipping point’ of ocean acidification around NZ’

Software released last week by Stanford researchers allows anyone with virtual reality (VR) gear to witness ocean acidification firsthand. Developed by Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, the free simulation takes users on an educational “field trip” to discover the science behind rising acidity in our oceans — a less visible consequence of burning fossil fuels.

“Our number one goal was to try and create a virtual field trip in science and chemistry,” said Jeremy Bailenson, professor of communications and founding director of the lab. “You can have these field trips anytime and anywhere.”

The simulation first transports you to a scene of heavy traffic, where you follow carbon dioxide molecules from the street to the ocean. Sinking below the surface, you then wade through a healthy reef teeming with wildlife. The narrator instructs you to count the number of snails using your virtual hands. You count a dozen or so. Moments later, you are transported to a reef under elevated acidity, where you attempt the species count again. You find none. As the narrator explains, this is because the reef has grown too acidic to support shell-building organisms, which form an important part of the marine food chain.

Continue reading ‘Virtual reality shines light on ocean acidification’