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Coral. Many marine organisms that produce calcium carbonate shells or skeletons are negatively impacted by increasing CO₂ levels and decreasing pH in seawater. For example, increasing ocean acidification has been shown to significantly reduce the ability of reef-building corals to produce their skeletons.

As carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed from the atmosphere it bonds with sea water forming carbonic acid. This acid then releases a bicarbonate ion and a hydrogen ion. The hydrogen ion bonds with free carbonate ions in the water forming another bicarbonate ion.

That carbonate would otherwise be available to marine animals for making calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. So the more dissolved carbon dioxide in the ocean, the less free carbonate ions available for making calcium carbonate.

Even relatively small increases in ocean acidity decrease the capacity of corals to build skeletons, which in turn decreases their capacity to create habitat for the Reef's marine life

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1. The oceans have absorbed more than a fourth of the anthropogenic generated atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 200 years. Without this natural store the greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere would be much higher and the temperature on the Earth quite a bit warmer. However, this storage function has a high price: the oceans have become nearly 30% more acidic since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
2. Carbon dioxide dissolves especially well in cold water. That is why ocean acidification is progressing primarily in the polar regions. Acidification of the Arctic Ocean could result in less availability of aragonite, an important building block for calcareous shells, as early as in the middle of this century.
3.It never rains, but it pours. In addition to ocean acidification, increasing water temperatures and declining oxygen concentrations are also forcing ocean dwellers to adapt to new living conditions. A deadly trio. After all, when the three factors have a joint impact, organisms in the ocean react extremely sensitively. Moreover, oceans as habitats are frequently polluted and overfished.
4.Ocean acidification represents a threat particularly for the young life stages of marine animals, such as eggs or larvae. Some larvae, for instance, no longer grow and develop so well in more acidic water. In contrast to more mature specimens, they have not yet developed all internal mechanisms necessary to protect themselves successfully against external influences.
5.If the shell walls of calcifying phytoplankton species become thinner and smaller in more acidic water, this may have an impact on the entire marine carbon store. The reason is that thinner shells are at the same time lighter so their weight declines. However, this additional ballast previously meant that even the shells of tiny creatures sank to the depths – and with them the carbon in their shells. The carbon could thus be stored on the seafloor for millennia. Ocean acidification might therefore result in significantly less carbon being transported to the depths.
6.Today the most species-rich ecosystems of the oceans, the coral reefs, are already suffering from too warm and too acidic living conditions in some regions. By the end of this century it is even possible that only 30% of all corals will have enough building material for their skeletons.

This also has consequences for us humans: 400 million people currently owe their food and protection against storm surges to intact coral reefs.

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TOLGA SS POWERPOINT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND OCEAN ACIDIFCATION.pptx

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  Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems. Scientific evidence now clearly indicates that the Earth's atmosphere and ocean are warming, and that these changes are primarily due to greenhouse gases derived from human activities.As temperatures rise, mass coral bleaching events and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent. Additionally, carbon dioxide absorbed into the ocean from the atmosphere has already begun to reduce calcification rates in reef-building and reef-associated organisms by altering seawater chemistry through decreases in pH. This process is called ocean acidification.Climate change will affect coral reef ecosystems, through sea level rise, changes to the frequency and intensity of tropical storms, and altered ocean circulation patterns. When combined, all of these impacts dramatically alter ecosystem function, as well as the goods and services coral reef ecosystems provide to people around the globe

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  Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems. Scientific evidence now clearly indicates that the Earth's atmosphere and ocean are warming, and that these changes are primarily due to greenhouse gases derived from human activities.As temperatures rise, mass coral bleaching events and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more frequent. Additionally, carbon dioxide absorbed into the ocean from the atmosphere has already begun to reduce calcification rates in reef-building and reef-associated organisms by altering seawater chemistry through decreases in pH. This process is called ocean acidification.Climate change will affect coral reef ecosystems, through sea level rise, changes to the frequency and intensity of tropical storms, and altered ocean circulation patterns. When combined, all of these impacts dramatically alter ecosystem function, as well as the goods and services coral reef ecosystems provide to people around the globe

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george

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Welcome to GTF. My Name is Mr Ellison and my email is mxell4@eq.edu.au 

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Welcome to GTF. My Name is Mr Ellison and my email is mxell4@eq.edu.au 

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Box 1: What is pH?

Ocean acidification is often expressed in terms of the pH of seawater.  pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity. A pH below 7 is considered acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is considered alkaline, or basic.

Average ocean water pH is currently 8.1.  The pH scale is logarithmic, so a one point change on the scale means a tenfold change in concentration

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Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues. Normally, coral polyps live in an endosymbiotic relationship with this algae crucial for the health of the coral and the reef. The algae provides up to 90% of the coral's energy. Bleached corals continue to live but begin to starve after bleaching. Some corals recover

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Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues. Normally, coral polyps live in an endosymbiotic relationship with this algae crucial for the health of the coral and the reef. The algae provides up to 90% of the coral's energy. Bleached corals continue to live but begin to starve after bleaching. Some corals recover

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What does pH stand for?        The “p” stands for potential and the “H” stands for Hydrogen. Okay, so that makes it as clear as mud. What is potential Hydrogen? A scientific explanation would state that pH refers to the plant's ability to attract hydrogen ions. A less scientific explanation says pH is the acid/alkaline balance

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What does pH stand for?        The “p” stands for potential and the “H” stands for Hydrogen. Okay, so that makes it as clear as mud. What is potential Hydrogen? A scientific explanation would state that pH refers to the plant's ability to attract hydrogen ions. A less scientific explanation says pH is the acid/alkaline balance

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Fish were not thought to be at direct risk from acidification, because they clearly don't build shells, and were considered to have well-developed physical mechanisms to tolerate falling pH (acidification).Fish may, in fact, be seriously threatened by ocean acidification. Although adult fish seem well-equipped to deal with low pH waters, or higher levels of CO2 in seawater, their egg and larval life stages, a typically vulnerable time for all marine life, may not be so fortunate. It has been shown that larvae survival in one fish species drops with increased levels of CO2 (figure 1). Survival rates plummeting some 75% under a scenario with 1000ppm (parts per million) of atmospheric CO2. Considerable tissue damage and necrosis (dead tissue) in fish larvae of another species exposed to higher levels of CO2 than the present day have been discovered. In the high CO2 experiments, this damage to internal organs was so extensive it lead to the death of afflicted larvae. 

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Fish were not thought to be at direct risk from acidification, because they clearly don't build shells, and were considered to have well-developed physical mechanisms to tolerate falling pH (acidification).Fish may, in fact, be seriously threatened by ocean acidification. Although adult fish seem well-equipped to deal with low pH waters, or higher levels of CO2 in seawater, their egg and larval life stages, a typically vulnerable time for all marine life, may not be so fortunate. It has been shown that larvae survival in one fish species drops with increased levels of CO2 (figure 1). Survival rates plummeting some 75% under a scenario with 1000ppm (parts per million) of atmospheric CO2. Considerable tissue damage and necrosis (dead tissue) in fish larvae of another species exposed to higher levels of CO2 than the present day have been discovered. In the high CO2 experiments, this damage to internal organs was so extensive it lead to the death of afflicted larvae. 

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Information, definitions or graphs or pictures on

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Information, definitions or graphs or pictures on

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1) climate change
2) Ocean acidification
3) Global warming

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George

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Coral bleaching is a result of climate change 

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Coral bleaching is a result of climate change 

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Ocean Acidification (OA) is a term used to describe significant changes to the chemistry of the ocean. It occurs when carbon dioxide gas (or CO2) is absorbed by the ocean and reacts with seawater to produce acid.
Ursula

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Mr E

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Ocean acidification reduces the amount of carbonate, a key building block in seawater. This makes it more difficult for marine organisms, such as coral and some plankton, to form their shells and skeletons, and existing shells may begin to dissolve.

The present-day pH of seawater is highly variable, and a single organism can cope with fluctuations of different pH levels during its lifetime. The problem with ocean acidification is the sustained nature of the change, as the risk comes from the lifetime exposure to lower pH levels. The rapid pace of acidification will influence the extent to which calcifying organisms will be able to adapt.

The impacts of ocean acidification are not uniform across all species. Some algae and seagrass may benefit from higher CO2 concentrations in the ocean, as they may increase their photosynthetic and growth rates. However, a more acidic environment will harm other marine species such as molluscs, corals and some varieties of plankton (Figure 4). The shells and skeletons of these animals may become less dense or strong. In the case of coral reefs this may make them more vulnerable to storm damage and slow the recovery rate.

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Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere in a region and its short-term (minutes to weeks) variations, whereas climate is defined as statistical weather information that describes the variation of weather at a given place for a specified interval. They are both used interchangeably sometimes but differ in terms of the length of time they measure and what trends affect them.
Weather is the combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind. In popular usage, climate represents the synthesis of weather; more formally, it is the weather of a locality averaged over some period (usually 30 years), plus statistics of weather extremes.

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Global warming is the term used to describe the current increase in the Earth's average temperature. Climate change refers not only to global changes in temperature but also to changes in wind, precipitation, the length of seasons as well as the strength and frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and floods. Mr E 

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Global warming is the term used to describe the current increase in the Earth's average temperature. Climate change refers not only to global changes in temperature but also to changes in wind, precipitation, the length of seasons as well as the strength and frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and floods. Mr E 

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Ashlee

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Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather within the context of longer-term average conditions.

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Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather within the context of longer-term average conditions.

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Ashlee

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The impact of ocean acidification on shells/shellfish

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Mr E

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The pteropod, or “sea butterfly”, is a tiny sea creature about the size of a small pea. Pteropods are eaten by organisms ranging in size from tiny krill to whales and are a food source for North Pacific juvenile salmon. The photos on the left show that a pteropod’s shell dissolves over 45 day when placed in sea water with pH and carbonate levels projected for the year 2100. Photo credit: David Liittschwager/National Geographic Stock. Used with permission. All rights reserved. National Geographic Images.

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The pteropod, or “sea butterfly”, is a tiny sea creature about the size of a small pea. Pteropods are eaten by organisms ranging in size from tiny krill to whales and are a food source for North Pacific juvenile salmon. The photos on the left show that a pteropod’s shell dissolves over 45 day when placed in sea water with pH and carbonate levels projected for the year 2100. Photo credit: David Liittschwager/National Geographic Stock. Used with permission. All rights reserved. National Geographic Images.