Reduce Ocean Acidification
The Earth is covered by 70 percent of water (Vaughn, par 6 ). Of that water 97% is composed of salt water, leaving just three percent fresh water that lies in streams, rivers, glaciers, and underground (Rekacewicz, par 1). This vast amount of water has not been yet fully discovered with only five percent being explored ( Vaughn, par 9). For generations the ocean has been called “The largest museum on earth” (Vaughn, par 8). The Earth has been maintained in a natural state of balance, but the advancement of human civilization has thrown it off balance (Stewart, video). Each year as humans evolve we destroy the Earth along with its natural resources (Rekacewicz, par1). Almost everything depends on water and it’s cycle. However, the oceans
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seem to be getting a lot of attention over the last decade. Due to our harsh dumping of waste and our excessive amounts of carbon dioxide the oceans seem to suffering (Stewart, video). Especially the coral and marine creatures that depend on this for survival. Many people don’t realize the these effects can hinder human life too (Azevedo LB, par 4). The ocean for humans is considered very valuable as it’s our largest consumption for food than any other ecosystem. (Azevedo LB, par6). Although, the oceans is our largest benefactor there are still many cause that come from it and plentiful solutions to reduce the effects.
Marine ecosystems are a complex physical environment; any large disturbance can lead to many large problems through the system. Ocean acidification has the potential to disturb the ecosystems in many ways; temporal and spatial shifts in the interactions between the many species in the ecosystem (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). If shifts in the ecosystems keep occurring the changes in predator-prey, competitive and other food web interactions. These include expected effects on phytoplankton, which serve as the base of marine food webs, and on ecosystem engineers, which create or modify habitat (e.g., corals, oysters, and sea-grasses). There may also be changes in habitat quality and effects on other ecological processes such as nutrient cycling. Changes in habitat quality have already started taking place due to the ocean acidification. Many of the changes from ocean acidification are affecting the key organisms that play an important role in an ecosystem. These changes may lead to great shifts in the composition, structure, and function of these ecosystems, it is very important to remember that these effects may scale up to populations, communities, and marine ecosystems these such changes are extremely hard to predict (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). Higher trophic levels including most finfish, will likely be sensitive to ocean acidification through changes in the quantity or composition of the food available, although there may be direct effects on some fish species at high pCO2 level. Several reports have identified marine ecosystems that are most likely to be at risk from ocean acidification (Raven, 2005).
The cause of ocean acidification is carbon pollution being released by burning fossil fuels, ocean acidification shares the same principals as climate change it is a separate phenomenon that requires distinct strategies as well as independent scientific study (Karl, 2009).
What we could do to prevent ocean acidification from continuing and harming the ecosystems even more is to reduce the world's carbon footprint. Some ideas of helping the reduce the carbon footprint is to use less energy at home; using natural gas and electric heating will reduce your home's carbon footprint, conserving water, reduce using plastic consumption, by less consumable thing’s; the manufacturing of the products create more carbon for making them. The blanket of carbon dioxide we've been building for over a hundred years acts like a greenhouse, trapping more of the sun's heat (Karl, 2009). More heat means a warmer ocean, which is taking a toll on the marine life. This also causes the ocean to become more and more acidic which makes it hard for organisms like corals and clams to build their skeletons and shells. Humans are deeply involved with using energy from fossil fuels. Transport, industry and homes all use fossil fuels. It is hard to get the world to undo what it has became, our imprint on the world will; never go away but we can make changes to prevent it from getting any worse, it is a huge job but working together it can be done (Bijma,
9009).
The chief culprit of ocean acidification is carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases. When oceans assimilate atmospheric carbon dioxide, carbonic acid is produced and it then breaks down into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. The rise in hydrogen ion concentrations will result in a drop in the pH, causing the water to become more acidic. As the ocean gets deeper, the level of carbon dioxide concentration becomes higher due to the decomposition of depositing organic matters. Ocean is a fundamental section of the carbon cycle as well as the largest carbon reservoir, as it stores about 38000 gigatons of carbon and allows less amount of carbon dioxide to enter the air warming the planet. However, human activities have detrimentally affected the situation. Factors such as fossil fuel consumption, changes in land use, farming practices and cement manufacture all contribute to the dramatic increase of carbon dioxide emissions (2 gigatons of carbon per year). The pH of the surface seawater has experienced a fall of 0.1 units since the Industrial Revolution, corresponding to a more than 30% increase in acidity; and it could get much worse. Ocean’s buffering abilities will be negatively influenced by high carbon dioxide levels, for it absorbs carbon less effectively, giving a potential to intensify global warming’s rate and scale (The Royal Society). Ocean ecosystem is essential to humans, but ocean acidification could cause severe consequences on marine organisms. Some shell-building animals such as mussels, starfish and clams rely on a process called calcification to produce their home. But as more hydrogen ions in the seawater combine with carbonate ions, the availability of carbonate is decreased which is demanded by those creatures to grow their skeletons. Therefore, calcification becomes harder and more energy is required to put in, resulting in fewer chances for other activities; and what’s worse, the existing shell could even be broken down. Although zooplanktons like foraminifera generally have high reproductive rate, experiments shows that they could not survive under high acidity. Besides, coral reefs has been playing a vital role in the ecosystem; not only do they provide shelters for other ocean lives, they bring enormous economic benefits for people with over 375 billion dollars a year, as a great source of food, medicines and recreation. However, ocean acidification could damage the existing skeletons of coral reefs and retard the development of new ones at the same time. Those later generations will become weaker and more easily to be corroded from both seawater and animals live in them. In addition, the fish is also under the threat of diseases such as acidosis in seawater with a lower pH (Bennett). In conclusion, the oceans cover more than half of the Earth. The natural resource has been in a balance since the beginning of time. However, as humans came along we have upset the natural equilibrium (Vaughn, par 6). As many know marine life has been crucial for human survival and it has many complex layers. As ocean acidification grows the ecosystem could have temporal and spatial shifts between the species and ecosystems. The reversal or shift of predator-prey can damage the natural cycle and have higher trophic levels. The cause of ocean acidification has been strongly surrounded by carbon pollution (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). The effects of carbon pollution has caused the oceans to receive carbonic acid. This happens when hydrogen ions break down into bicarbonate ions. These high levels of carbonic acid destroy the shells of shellfish and other marine life (Bennet). If ultimately we find better ways to reduce our carbon footprint we could reduce the levels of ocean acidification .
seem to be getting a lot of attention over the last decade. Due to our harsh dumping of waste and our excessive amounts of carbon dioxide the oceans seem to suffering (Stewart, video). Especially the coral and marine creatures that depend on this for survival. Many people don’t realize the these effects can hinder human life too (Azevedo LB, par 4). The ocean for humans is considered very valuable as it’s our largest consumption for food than any other ecosystem. (Azevedo LB, par6). Although, the oceans is our largest benefactor there are still many cause that come from it and plentiful solutions to reduce the effects.
Marine ecosystems are a complex physical environment; any large disturbance can lead to many large problems through the system. Ocean acidification has the potential to disturb the ecosystems in many ways; temporal and spatial shifts in the interactions between the many species in the ecosystem (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). If shifts in the ecosystems keep occurring the changes in predator-prey, competitive and other food web interactions. These include expected effects on phytoplankton, which serve as the base of marine food webs, and on ecosystem engineers, which create or modify habitat (e.g., corals, oysters, and sea-grasses). There may also be changes in habitat quality and effects on other ecological processes such as nutrient cycling. Changes in habitat quality have already started taking place due to the ocean acidification. Many of the changes from ocean acidification are affecting the key organisms that play an important role in an ecosystem. These changes may lead to great shifts in the composition, structure, and function of these ecosystems, it is very important to remember that these effects may scale up to populations, communities, and marine ecosystems these such changes are extremely hard to predict (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). Higher trophic levels including most finfish, will likely be sensitive to ocean acidification through changes in the quantity or composition of the food available, although there may be direct effects on some fish species at high pCO2 level. Several reports have identified marine ecosystems that are most likely to be at risk from ocean acidification (Raven, 2005).
The cause of ocean acidification is carbon pollution being released by burning fossil fuels, ocean acidification shares the same principals as climate change it is a separate phenomenon that requires distinct strategies as well as independent scientific study (Karl, 2009).
What we could do to prevent ocean acidification from continuing and harming the ecosystems even more is to reduce the world's carbon footprint. Some ideas of helping the reduce the carbon footprint is to use less energy at home; using natural gas and electric heating will reduce your home's carbon footprint, conserving water, reduce using plastic consumption, by less consumable thing’s; the manufacturing of the products create more carbon for making them. The blanket of carbon dioxide we've been building for over a hundred years acts like a greenhouse, trapping more of the sun's heat (Karl, 2009). More heat means a warmer ocean, which is taking a toll on the marine life. This also causes the ocean to become more and more acidic which makes it hard for organisms like corals and clams to build their skeletons and shells. Humans are deeply involved with using energy from fossil fuels. Transport, industry and homes all use fossil fuels. It is hard to get the world to undo what it has became, our imprint on the world will; never go away but we can make changes to prevent it from getting any worse, it is a huge job but working together it can be done (Bijma,
9009).
The chief culprit of ocean acidification is carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases. When oceans assimilate atmospheric carbon dioxide, carbonic acid is produced and it then breaks down into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. The rise in hydrogen ion concentrations will result in a drop in the pH, causing the water to become more acidic. As the ocean gets deeper, the level of carbon dioxide concentration becomes higher due to the decomposition of depositing organic matters. Ocean is a fundamental section of the carbon cycle as well as the largest carbon reservoir, as it stores about 38000 gigatons of carbon and allows less amount of carbon dioxide to enter the air warming the planet. However, human activities have detrimentally affected the situation. Factors such as fossil fuel consumption, changes in land use, farming practices and cement manufacture all contribute to the dramatic increase of carbon dioxide emissions (2 gigatons of carbon per year). The pH of the surface seawater has experienced a fall of 0.1 units since the Industrial Revolution, corresponding to a more than 30% increase in acidity; and it could get much worse. Ocean’s buffering abilities will be negatively influenced by high carbon dioxide levels, for it absorbs carbon less effectively, giving a potential to intensify global warming’s rate and scale (The Royal Society). Ocean ecosystem is essential to humans, but ocean acidification could cause severe consequences on marine organisms. Some shell-building animals such as mussels, starfish and clams rely on a process called calcification to produce their home. But as more hydrogen ions in the seawater combine with carbonate ions, the availability of carbonate is decreased which is demanded by those creatures to grow their skeletons. Therefore, calcification becomes harder and more energy is required to put in, resulting in fewer chances for other activities; and what’s worse, the existing shell could even be broken down. Although zooplanktons like foraminifera generally have high reproductive rate, experiments shows that they could not survive under high acidity. Besides, coral reefs has been playing a vital role in the ecosystem; not only do they provide shelters for other ocean lives, they bring enormous economic benefits for people with over 375 billion dollars a year, as a great source of food, medicines and recreation. However, ocean acidification could damage the existing skeletons of coral reefs and retard the development of new ones at the same time. Those later generations will become weaker and more easily to be corroded from both seawater and animals live in them. In addition, the fish is also under the threat of diseases such as acidosis in seawater with a lower pH (Bennett). In conclusion, the oceans cover more than half of the Earth. The natural resource has been in a balance since the beginning of time. However, as humans came along we have upset the natural equilibrium (Vaughn, par 6). As many know marine life has been crucial for human survival and it has many complex layers. As ocean acidification grows the ecosystem could have temporal and spatial shifts between the species and ecosystems. The reversal or shift of predator-prey can damage the natural cycle and have higher trophic levels. The cause of ocean acidification has been strongly surrounded by carbon pollution (Pörtner and Farell, 2008). The effects of carbon pollution has caused the oceans to receive carbonic acid. This happens when hydrogen ions break down into bicarbonate ions. These high levels of carbonic acid destroy the shells of shellfish and other marine life (Bennet). If ultimately we find better ways to reduce our carbon footprint we could reduce the levels of ocean acidification .