The picture above is from NOAA and illustrates what happens to ocean creatures with shells. The shells are unable to form and consequently, the shellfish perish.
March 31, 2016
By GrrlScientist
...Significant changes in water chemistry (click here) can be measured directly: already, the pH of the world’s oceans has decreased by more than 0.1 pH units since preindustrial times, representing an increase of almost 30% in the concentration of hydronium ions. Additionally, scientists estimate that the process of ocean acidification will gain momentum over the next few decades. Research projections show that the pH of the world’s oceans will further decrease by between 0.07 to 0.33 pH units by 2100, thereby attaining a level of acidity was last seen on Earth 20 million years ago. But this dramatic transformation will occur within our children’s lifetimes....
The ocean creatures with shells are the primary concern of most scientists measuring the acidifying of the oceans. There is little to no investigation I know of that measures the skeletal system of other fish.
April 3, 2016
By Andrea F. Carter
Two Falmouth students joined scientists and legislators (click here) at the Ocean Acidification Roundtable at the Woods Hole Research Center on Monday, March 28, to talk about how a more acidic ocean can affect sea life.
Sarah Theiler, a 6th grader at Morse Pond School, and Charles Xu, a 9th grader at Falmouth High School, presented their posters from the Falmouth public schools' science fair during the lunchtime break at the meeting.
“It seems like a great honor,” Charles said of being chosen to present his poster at the meeting.
At the roundtable, Anne Cohen, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, spoke about the vulnerability of mollusks to more acidic conditions in the ocean. In higher acidity, shells may not develop normally and dissolve.
Sarah chose a project that tested this idea....
Mollusks (those with shells) comprise about 23 percent of ocean creatures. With that level of species involvement there will be ecosystems in the oceans collapsing.
There are over 50,000 known species of Mollusks, (click here) which makes them second only to the Arthropods in invertebrate phylum size. Among the Mollusks are some of the most well known of invertebrate sea creatures, like snails, clams, mussels, squid, and octopods. Although one might not see an obvious physical relationship between a snail and a squid, they are remarkably similar in construction....
