Ocean Acidification: Starting With The Science
Ocean Acidification: Starting With The Science
Ocean Acidification: Starting With The Science
CONTENTS
Introduction 1 The Carbon Cycle 2-3 Evidence of Excess Carbon Dioxide 4-5 The Chemistry of Ocean Acidication 6 Biological Processes Affected by Ocean Acidication 7 Effects on Shellsh, Corals, and Other Calciers 8-9 Potential Impacts on Ecosystems 10-13 How will Changing Ecosystems Impact People? 14-15 Where Do We Go From Here? 16
Covering more than 70 percent of the Earths surface, the ocean is one of planet Earths most distinguishing characteristics. Over recent decades, a range of human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels is increasing the amount of carbon dioxide gas emitted to the atmosphereand the amount that dissolves into the ocean. Now, so much carbon dioxide has been absorbed by the ocean that the chemistry of seawater is changing, causing the ocean to become more acidic. Based on the latest science, this booklet describes the well-understood chemistry of ocean acidication and explores the many questions that remain: How will ocean acidication impact marine life such as sh, corals, and shellsh? How will the effects on individual species scale up to whole ecosystems? What will ocean acidication mean for aquaculture, the shing industry, and coastal tourism?
Carbon is continually exchanged between the atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, and land. There are short- and long-term cycles at work.
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Ph oto sy nth es
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Short-Term Cycles
Carbon dioxide is exchanged rapidly between plants and animals through respiration and photosynthesis, and between the ocean and the atmosphere through gas exchange. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
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Exchange of CO2
Long-Term Cycle
Over millions of years, carbon dioxide in the air combines with rainwater to form weak acids that very slowly dissolve rocks. Rivers and streams carry these minerals to the oceans where they are used by animals to form coral reefs and shells and help balance the pH of the ocean. Over even longer time periods, organic carbon (formed from the remains of marine life) becomes stored deep within the Earths crust and forms fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Some of this carbon will be released back into the atmosphere by volcanoes, completing the cycle.
Marine Deposits
up his equipment at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, far from the localized effects of fossil fuels, to take precise, daily measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The now famous Keeling Curve documents a steady increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide that continues today, providing evidence that natural carbon cycling is not keeping pace with human carbon dioxide emissions. With evidence of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere, oceanographers decided they should track carbon concentrations in the ocean to see if carbon dioxide was also accumulating there. Studies that began in the mid 1980s have shown that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the ocean is increasing in parallel with the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (see Figure 1). At the same time, the pH of the ocean is decreasing (becoming more acidic), indicating that carbon dioxide levels have exceeded the oceans natural capacity to buffer pH.
(Above) Charles David Keeling points to carbon dioxide data records now called the Keeling Curve (Left) Roger Revelle works in his laboratory
Figure 1. Ocean carbon dioxide and pH measurements near Hawaii at Station ALOHA. 1988-2007
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BASIC NEUTRAL ACIDIC
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This gure demonstrates that as carbon dioxide in the air and ocean increases over time, the pH in the seawater decreases (Dore et al., 2009). Top: Calculated partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater (blue ), and in air at nearby Mauna Loa (red )*. Bottom: Direct measurement of pH in surface seawater (orange ) compared with calculated pH (green )*. Scientists measure partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), the pres-
sure that carbon dioxide gas exerts if it were alone in a container instead of being a component of the mixture of gases in the atmosphere or ocean, in units called microatmospheres. * calculated partial pressure CO2 and pH are based on measurements of the chemical properties of seawater at Station ALOHA. Please see Dore et al., 2009 for more details; full citation on inside back cover of booklet.
Some of the extra hydrogen ions react with carbonate ions (CO32-) to form more bicarbonate. This makes carbonate ions less abundanta problem for many marine species that absorb carbonate from seawater and use it to build calcium carbonate shells and skeletons in a process called calcication. As carbonate becomes less abundant, these organisms, such as corals and clams, have more difculty building and maintaining their shells and skeletons. Increased acidity can even cause some carbonate shells and skeletons to dissolve. Hydrogen ions react with the solid calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and convert it to soluble bicarbonate (HCO3-) and (Ca2+) ions.
Maintaining Metabolism
Many physiological processes are netuned to operate within a narrow pH range; outside of that range, the biochemical reactions may be too slow or inefcient to keep the organism healthy. Although many species can adjust to changes in their surroundings by actively maintaining a constant internal environment, this maintenance requires a signicant expenditure of energy. An adult sh may be able to compensate by eating more, but sh eggs and larvae have limited energy reserves and, therefore, may have less capacity to adjust to more acidic conditions. Recently, scientists discovered that lower pH can also affect neurological processes in adult sh (see Neurological Effects on page 9) indicating that a broader range of physiological processes may be sensitive to pH, with potentially others yet to be discovered.
Building Shells
Many animals and some algae use carbonate ions to make calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. Because ocean acidication decreases the availability of carbonate ions, these organisms will have to work harder to produce shells.
Boosting Photosynthesis
Carbon dioxide can stimulate plant growth by boosting the rate of photosynthesis. Many plants, including seagrasses, grow more rapidly under elevated carbon dioxide conditions. Although seagrasses provide valuable habitat, this could be too much of a good thing, if these plants overgrow less robust species and reduce the ecosystems biodiversity.
Australias Great Barrier Reef is a massive coral ecosystem that is the largest biological structure in the world, visible even from space. The reef provides habitat for more than1,500 species of sh and 400 species of coralbut recently, scientic studies have shown that the growth of the Great Barrier Reefs coral colonies has decreased by 14 percent since 1990. If growth rates continue to decline to the point that damage and erosion outpace repair, the reef system may begin to shrink.
NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTS
Recent research suggests that ocean acidication could muddle shes sense of smell and alter their behavior. Scientists found that in more acidic conditions, young clownsh lost the ability to navigate home using their sense of smell. The sh also became attracted to odors they normally avoid, such as the scent of predators, and displayed uncharacteristically bold behaviors such as roaming far from their home reef. These changes could be due to altered patterns of neurotransmitter function in high carbon dioxide conditions. In a series of experiments with clownsh and damselsh, researchers found the abnormal behaviors could be reversed by treatment with a chemical that muted the action of the GABA-A receptor, a major neurotransmitter in the vertebrate brain. Given the ubiquity of the GABA-A receptors in vertebrate brains, the researchers think elevated carbon dioxide levels could cause similar sensory and behavioral impairment in a wide range of marine species.
Pteropod shells arranged from top (most intact) to bottom (most dissolved) illustrate the increasing stages of dissolution in seawater with elevated carbon dioxide.
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Before the asteroid hit Earth, marine bivalves called rudists (left) were so abundant they formed reefs. Ammonites (right) were also plentiful. Both species vanished in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary extinction.
This map (a gravity anomaly map) reveals a crater roughly 180 km in diameter, produced when an asteroid struck the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico more than 65 million years ago. The white line shows the Yucatan coast. The largest green, yellow, and red circles mark the rim of the crater.
marine organisms. When the asteroid struck, the heat and pressure of the impact caused the release of sulfur dioxide, nitrates, and other compounds into the atmosphere. There, the compounds reacted with oxygen and water to form acid (e.g., sulfuric acid and nitric acid), which rained down into the ocean. The surface waters of the ocean became so acidic that marine organisms could not maintain their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. Only organisms able to withstand the acidic conditions persisted, typically species without calcareous shells such as diatoms, a type of planktonic plant with a shell made of silica, rather than calcium carbonate. The rapid environmental change due to the asteroid provides a clue to what might happen with present day ocean acidication, but it is not directly analogous. One of the differences is that dust from the impact darkened the sky, thus inhibiting plant growth and cooling the atmosphere. Also, the increase in ocean acidity from the asteroid was relatively short lived, lasting just hundreds of years, because mixing of the acidied surface with deeper waters restored the chemical balance of the upper ocean. Even so, fossil evidence indicates that many species never recovered and coral reefs did not reappear for another two million years. Todays acidication, caused by the steep climb in carbon dioxide emissions over the last 200 years, will likely affect marine ecosystems from the surface to the deep and will persist for many centuries to come.
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POLAR ECOSYSTEMS
The polar waters of the Arctic and Southern oceans harbor many protected and endangered marine mammals and support some of the most productive sheries in the world. Carbon dioxide dissolves more readily in cold water, acidifying polar waters faster than in lower latitudes. In fact, scientists have determined that the surface waters of the Southern Ocean will begin to become corrosive to some types of carbonate structures by the year 2050 if carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase at the current rate.
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water, however, makes it more difcult for oysters to build shells. Working at the Whiskey Creek Shellsh Hatchery in Netarts Bay, Oregon, researchers found that oyster larvae were still relying on egg-derived energy until they were 11 days oldslowing their growth and jeopardizing their survival. Some shellsh farms have already taken steps to protect oyster larvae from more acidic water, for example by buffering the water surrounding larvae to control pH. However, it would be premature to conclude that ocean acidication is the sole cause of the oyster hatchery failures. Other factors, such as nutrient pollution from runoff, or bacterial and viral infections, could also play a role. Research to better understand the cause, or causes, of the oyster larvae deaths will require more researchand until then, the Northwests shellsh farmers will continue to struggle to nd a way to keep their oysters, and hence their livelihoods, healthy and productive.
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To more fully understand and address the threat that ocean acidication poses, two recent reports from the National Research council make recommendations on the development of a coordinated, cooperative system for collecting and analyzing ocean data. Documenting changes over timeakin to the Keeling Curveis particularly important. Establishment of a global effort to regularly sample ocean chemistry and collect biological data such as the rate of coral growth or the abundance of various types of plankton at sites throughout the ocean would form the core of an ocean acidication research program. Like climate change, ocean acidication is a global phenomenon with global consequences. Since further ocean acidication seems inevitable, adaptation to such change will be necessary. Work to investigate this problem and to develop ways to adapt will require cooperation and coordination at the international, national, regional, state, and local levels, as well as collaboration among scientists and researchers in a wide range of disciplines.
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This booklet was prepared by the National Research Council based on the following reports: Ocean Acidication: A National Strategy to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Ocean (2010) Sponsored by: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Review of the Federal Ocean Acidication Research and Monitoring Plan (2013) Sponsored by: NOAA and the National Science Foundation. These and other reports are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington DC 20001; 800-624-6242; http://www.nap.edu. Reports are available online for free download. For more information, please contact the Ocean Studies Board at 202-334-2714 or visit http://dels.nas.edu/osb.
Credits: Cover Images: Giant-spined star: Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary; Coral Image: Brooke et. al.,NOAA OE 2005/Marine Photobank; Pteropod: Project Oceanica, College of Charleston; Seagrass: Paige Gill, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Inside front cover: Photodisc. Page 1: Julie Bedford, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. Page 4 and 5: Roger Revelle and Charles David Keeling courtesy of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives, UC San Diego Libraries; Figure 1 adapted from Dore et al. 2009, PNAS 106(30): 12236. Page 7: Coccolithopore: Jeremy Young, The Natural History Museum,London, UK; Fish: Photodisc; Sea grass: Claire Fackler, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries; Copepod: www.cmarz.org, R. Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Page 8-9: Foraminifera, Howard Spero, University of California, Davis; Great Barrier Reef iStockphoto.com/KIA; Pteropod shells: David Liittschwager / National Geographic Stock. Clownsh: Al Momany, NOAA Page 10: Coral: Brooke et. al., NOAA OE 2005/ Marine Photobank; Carbon dioxide vent: Jason Hall-Spencer. Page 11: Map: NASA; Gravity Anomaly: Geological Survey of Canada (A.Hildebrand and M. Pilkington); Rudist: Mark A. Wilson, The College of Wooster; Ammonite: Bruce Avera Hunter /life.nbii.gov. Page 12 and 13: Open Ocean: MERIS, ESA Envisat image; Tropical Coral Reefs: Claire Fackler, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries; Polar: Thomas Hallermann/Marine Photobank; Deep Coral Reefs: Brooke et. al., NOAA OE 2005/ Marine Photobank. Page 14: Snorkeler: Claire Fackler, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries; Fishing Boat: MSC/Marine Photobank. Page 15: Willapa Bay: Bill Dewey, Taylor Shellfsh Company. Page 16: Coral: NOAA; Fish: Julie Bedford,National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. Printed on recycled paper
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