Increased CO2 to cause extinction of many marine species

Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels continue to grow, primarily because world is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. If we fail to reduce further growth in CO2 emissions this will cause further temperature increase and lead to rapid increase in ocean acidity.

 The U.S. scientists from the University of California say that our planet will warm at least 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century in the business as usual scenario. This will increase acidity of our oceans by more than 60 percent, leading to likely extinction of many marine species.

The scientists also believe that current protection policies and management practices are inadequate and won't be enough to save many marine species from extinction.

The successful marine management is about to become extremely difficult, if not impossible, and world leaders should be already addressing this issue in hope to at least find solutions that would reduce the total damage to marine ecosystems.

Why are oceans becoming more acidic with the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere? This is because oceans sink giant quantities of C02 (about one quarter of our global carbon emissions), and the more CO2 there is in the atmosphere the more of it will be absorbed by oceans.

Among species most vulnerable to ocean acidification are corals and shellfish. The species with calcium carbonate skeletons and shells such as corals have very small chance to adapt to these changes in acidity and many of them will likely perish from our oceans, resulting in a gigantic damage to entire marine food web because these species play vital role at the bottom of marine food chain.

The only way to stop ocean acidity is to stabilize or reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and quite frankly this can't be done without an international climate deal. Given the current state of global politics, new climate deal is nowhere to be seen.

The world leaders still fail to spot the magnitude of this major environmental issue, and are much more worried about global financial situation than how our planet feels and looks.

Biodiversity in our oceans needs to be preserved because this is one of the things on which our future wellbeing will depend on it.

The health of our oceans becoming huge environmental issue

Our oceans are often ignored when discussing global environmental issues. This is probably because most people look at them as some sort of giants that can survive everything we hit at them. Sadly, the science says otherwise.

Most scientists predict grim outlook for our oceans in years to come. This is because they are not facing just one but entire mix of different environmental issues such as ocean acidification, loss of marine biodiversity, climate change, pollution and overfishing.

Climate change and ocean acidification are said to be the two biggest threats to our oceans. The rate of ocean acidification is constantly on the rise because of the increased climate change impact and the constant increase in man-made carbon emissions.

The International Ocean Acidification Reference User Group says that ocean absorbs roughly 26 percent of total CO2 emissions each year. The main problem is that the total amount of carbon emissions is constantly growing - it has increased by approximately 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid 18th century.

Ocean acidification in business as usual scenario could have a devastating effect on marine biodiversity because it has the potential to wipe out marine species with calcium carbonate skeletons and shells such as corals, many of which play key role at the bottom of sea food chain.

The scientists have also warned us that the increased acidity will significantly reduce the availability of calcium for plankton, resulting in less plankton and therefore less food for many marine species, creating an irreparable damage to entire marine food chain.

The global attention needs to change its focus from economy to environment and realize that environmental issues are becoming more important than economic issues.

The global public must realize how important our oceans are in order to put more pressure on politicians. We need to force politicians to come up with the adequate legislation that would ensure better ocean preservation such as international climate change deal.

The international climate change deal is sadly still in the sphere of fantasy because politicians keep postponing this issue like we have all the time in the world. Time is definitely not on our side in this situation.

Ocean acidification causing reduced marine biodiversity

Ocean acidification is a rising environmental threat despite not being high on global political agenda. The combination of ocean acidification and increasing water temperatures has already started reducing marine biodiversity in many corners of the world.

This lethal combination kills corals, shellfish and other valuable marine life, doing tremendous damage to marine food chain because many of these animals play extremely important role at the bottom of the food chain in oceans.

Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, of Plymouth University has found in his latest study that the ocean acidification is causing reduced biodiversity both in the tropics and in colder waters.

He also added that "Important groups like sea urchins and coralline algae cannot survive as the CO2 makes the water corrosive. And warming makes many of the organisms even more vulnerable to the corrosive effects of carbon dioxide – so shellfish and tourism industries are right to be concerned about ocean acidification."

The majority of organisms will suffer because of increased acidity in our oceans though the small number of organisms may even benefit from more carbon dioxide in the water. This is because some organisms have the ability to tolerate acidified seawater (usually those with protective layers that protect them from corrosion). However, large number of corals and shellfish doesn't have these protective layers.

The increasing ocean acidification is also likely to benefit some invasive species of algae and stinging jellyfish and the potential increase in population of these invasive species could add even more problems to many marine ecosystems.

Ocean acidification is still nowhere to be found on global political agenda which comes as a little surprise when you consider how useless last few climate talks were. Global carbon emissions are in the meantime still growing making our oceans more acidic which threatens the future life of many marine organisms.

Why do oceans need more protection?

Oceans no longer need to be only protected from massive garbage dumping as we have managed to significantly expand the list of critical ocean issues by adding the problems of overfishing and ocean acidification.

Overfishing is already taking heavy toll in many of our seas and oceans but very few countries take this issue seriously. Overfishing can cause big biodiversity loss in our oceans and with less fish in our seas and oceans this will also mean less food for millions of people worldwide that depend on the oceans for their daily livelihoods.

There is only one solution to stop overfishing – the establishment of new marine protected areas where marine life can thrive without being exposed to human interference. Up to now, less than 1.2 % of oceans have been protected, way too little given the current rate of overfishing.

Many marine experts look at ocean acidification as the most critical ocean issue. Our oceans are becoming increasingly acidic with the ever-growing climate change impact and scientists have calculated that under the business as usual scenario our oceans could see a 100% to 150% higher acidity on average, by the end of the century.

Such high acidity of our oceans would cause massive damage to marine life because of its negative effect on calcium carbonate – the material marine plants and animals use to make their shells and skeletons – to dissolve.

Calcium carbonate is not only important for corals but also for much of the ocean’s phytoplankton which plays vital role in marine food chain. The ongoing ocean acidification could have devastating effect on all marine life causing massive decline of marine biodiversity and cause irreparable damage to global fishing industry.

The worst part in the whole story is that the world leaders still do not recognize the importance of these serious environmental issues. In fact, oceans are still nowhere to be found on global political agenda.

Our oceans cover 72% of our planet's surface. Something this big definitely deserves better protection.

Ocean acidification – A huge threat to algae

Due to increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere our oceans are becoming more and more acidic. Ocean acidification, despite not being mentioned in public as much as climate change and pollution is nonetheless a huge threat for marine environment, and if the acidity in our oceans continues to grow, algae will be among creatures most affected by it.

This is because coccoliths, very small shells of calcium carbonate that encapsulate a number of species of alga, start do dissolve when seawater acidifies.

The scientists learned from their experiments that coccoliths fall completely apart when in water with a pH value that many researchers believe will be found in the world oceans in the year 2100 due to the ever-increasing CO2 levels.

Why are algae important for marine environment? Algae are one of the most important creatures in marine ecosystems because of their important role in the global carbon-oxygen cycle. However, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise further in years to come this will affect entire global carbon cycle because many algae species will forever perish from our oceans.

There are many other marine creatures besides algae that are finding it very hard to cope with the increased acidity in our oceans, for instance corals. Many latest studies have proved that ocean acidification is a very serious problem that could have enormous negative consequences if world fails to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hopefully, this and similar researches will bring this important environmental issue into public radar because public pressure is really the only thing that could force world leaders to an adequate reaction.

Ocean acidification is happening very fast which leaves very little time for species to adapt. In normal conditions algae and other oceanic calcifying organisms are stable but as soon as pH falls structures made of calcium carbonate become vulnerable to dissolution, which at certain level of low pH leads to full dissolution.

The consequences of ocean acidification

The new United Nations study yet again warns us about the ocean acidification issue. The report called "Environmental Consequences of Ocean Acidification" says that the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, and that this will soon have tremendous negative impact on marine biodiversity. Like we didn't know that already.

Though scientists are trying to warn the public there's really a little use of these reports because world leaders are doing nothing to tackle climate change issue, and I seriously doubt that latest climate change talks in Cancun will change current situation for better.

In the meantime our oceans will become more and more acidic, and this will totally disrupt the functioning of the marine food web. Sea creatures such as coral and shellfish will find it increasingly hard to survive, and these organisms play key role for many marine ecosystems, providing food for billions of different sea creatures.

Corals are among sea creatures most affected with ocean acidification.

Our oceans currently absorb around quarter of our global carbon emissions, but if we continue to increase our emissions in years to come, oceans will find it very hard to continue with this useful ability. If the world continues with current trend by the end of this century ocean acidity should increase by 150 percent, and this is literally the state of total environmental disaster.

This latest UN report also says that there are around three billion people worldwide who rely on fish for key nutrients, and if oceans continue to become more and more acidic there won't be enough fish for all these people. What this means, is that ocean acidification could also become one of the key factors that will cause even more hunger in the world.

Oceans are not only becoming more and more acidic but they are also becoming warmer. The combination of ocean acidification and increased warming could prove fatal for many marine species because this could extremely limit their habitats, and therefore lead this species to the brink of extinction.

The consequences of ocean acidification are therefore a decreased ability of our oceans to sink CO2 from the atmosphere, devastating impact on marine food web and extinction of many marine species, and to top it all even more hunger in the world.

This should be more than enough for world leaders to start working instead of just talking all the time. Or perhaps talk is the only work they are capable of.

Ocean acidification - Are fish in trouble?

There are many different reports from around the globe, and they all agree that our oceans are becoming increasingly acidic. This is mostly the result of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to human activity in form of excessive fossil fuels burning. Increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means that more carbon dioxide gets dissolved in the water, and thus the oceans are becoming more acidic.

Ocean acidification will not only have catastrophic consequences for shellfish that will find it hard to grow shells with the increased acidity of ocean water but on fish population too. In fact, the latest study carried out by the British scientists showed that ocean acidification will also likely have direct negative impact on many fish species as many of them will lose their ability to smell danger.

According to British scientists young fish reared in water with elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the water will likely become unable to distinguish the scent of predators and even seem attracted to their smell. This could significantly disrupt the balance of marine food chain, and cause serious decline of many fish species.

The first tests have revealed that the fish larvae that had been reared in water containing higher amounts of CO2 similar to those that will likely occur in most of our oceans by the end of the century, spent 93% of their time in the flow carrying the predator’s scent and even appeared to be attracted to this scent while fish that had not been exposed to the increased levels of acidity mostly avoided the flow of water with the predator scent in it.

And although scientists agree that it is very difficult to predict how acidic will our oceans be at the end of this century one thing looks to be sure, namely the fact that ocean acidification will have major negative impact on marine life.