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How does Ocean acidification impact the growth, reproduction, and calcification processes of coral reef ecosystems in different regions of the world's oceans?

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There is something that always catches my attention when it comes to life below the water. I adore learning facts and specifics about life in the water. I have an interest in Life Below Water and making it a healthier and safer place for creatures to live.

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A fact that caught my eye on the SDG website is that Ocean Acidification is increasing in the water. The acidification is 30% higher than in pre-industrial times.

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I want to explore how the acidification affects marine life. This article gives where is this affecting the most, why is it a problem, how does it affect our society, and what can we do about it. This also gave me and understanding of what Ocean acidification is specifically.

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A Climate-Induced Event Killing the Coast

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"Ocean acidification is a global threat to the world’s oceans, estuaries, and waterways. It is often called “climate change’s evil twin” and is projected to grow as carbon dioxide continues to be emitted into the atmosphere at record-high levels.

Like a sponge, our oceans are absorbing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This exchange helps regulate the planet’s atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, but comes at a cost for the oceans and sea life, particularly shellfish such as commercially valuable oysters and clams. Ocean acidification is best known for its osteoporosis-like effects on shellfish, which makes building and maintaining shells difficult for these creatures. Acidification also affects other species vital to the marine ecosystem, including reef-building corals and pteropods (tiny snails eaten by numerous species such as fish and whales)."- This definition comes from NOAA

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Ocean acidification creates harmful conditions that eat away at the minerals used by corals, reefs, oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimp and other marine life to build their shells and skeletons. It mainly harms marine life but could also potentially harm humans as well.

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It’s 7:45 Monday morning. You’re in the break room, perfecting your first cup of coffee, mentally organizing your day.

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This map provides the specifics of where the acidification is mainly taking effect, as well as the pH with each spot.

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I learned that the amount of CO2 that is in the water changes the pH, which effects the ecosystems in the Ocean. This video gave me new information that I wasn't aware of.

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Europe mitigation and adaption policies are trying to restore marine ecosystems. In Europe the pH in their water is going down each year.

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Almost one quarter of human-caused carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions are absorbed by oceans, resulting in ocean acidification, i.e. a decrease in the ocean water pH. Ocean acidification has increased rapidly causing pH to drop by approximately 30% since the pre-industrial era. Further decreases in pH are projected in the future. Seawater pH has decreased from 8.11 in 1985 to 8.05 in 2021. Ocean acidification has impacts on marine organisms with its effects cascading throughout the food web, modifying ecosystem services like fisheries.

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African countries rely on the ocean heavily for many of their resources. IAEA is working together with locals from africa in order to prevent Ocean acidification from getting worse.

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Ocean Acidification Adaptation and Resilience in Africa | IAEA

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Coastal communities in many African countries rely heavily on the sea for economic, social, and nutritional services. Ocean acidification has the potential to negatively affect marine ecosystems important to these communities. The losses would be alarming for the African continent. The IAEA is working with local, regional and international partners to understand and undress

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Japan has the most Ocean acidification overall. This is happening because of the large dissolution of atmospheric CO2 in the water.

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Website provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency (the national weather service of Japan)

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Ocean Acidification in South/Central America

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Ocean Acidification in South/Central America

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“Latin American and Caribbean countries depend on the sea for food and livelihoods. Without significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, the effects of ocean acidification on this region could be catastrophic.”- This provides information and details about how they rely on the Ocean and how the people there are getting affected.

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Latin American and Caribbean countries threatened by rising ocean acidity, experts warn

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Latin American and Caribbean countries are at the forefront of the first effects of ocean acidification on people’s lives, according to experts who gathered in Santa Marta, Colombia to address the threat of acidification to the region at an event co-organised by IUCN.

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Climate change is melting the ice caps in the Arctic which produces a larger amount of acidification in fresh water.

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Climate change is causing the Arctic Ocean's sea ice to melt away. When the polar ocean loses its cover of sea ice, carbon dioxide uptake increases disrupting the food web in the water according to a study in the journal Science co-authored by researchers from the University of Gothenburg.

By comparing data from a long list of Arctic expeditions, researchers have been able to see how the pH of the ocean north of Alaska and Siberia has decreased rapidly. In recent decades, the rate of acidification of the Arctic Ocean has been 3-4 times faster than in other oceans. This is because more carbon dioxide is taken up by the sea water when the surface is in direct contact with the atmosphere without a barrier of ice. In the past, the sea ice has kept the sea water close to the North Pole from being saturated with carbon dioxide.

"The time-series of pH measurements made in the Arctic Ocean is long. The oldest are from an expedition in 1994, when the ice sheet was extensive and thick, and measurements were taken in the leads between the ice floes. On the expedition in 2014, the icebreaker Oden was able to travel in open water half way from Siberia to the North Pole," says Leif Anderson, researcher in marine chemistry at the University of Gothenburg and one of the authors of the study.
Acidification greatest in cold oceans
The measured acidification over the last 30 years corresponds to about 0.1 on the pH scale. The researchers estimate that the pH value will decrease a further 0.3 by the next turn of the century if carbon dioxide levels continue to rise in the atmosphere as they are today. The impact will be greatest in the coldest oceans. Water temperature determines how much carbon dioxide can be dissolved in the ocean. More freshwater from melted sea ice also result in a larger acidification effect by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere due to changes in the seawater chemistry.

Strong currents in the Pacific Ocean are driving nutrient-rich water up to the polar oceans and during the long summer days in the Arctic, a high rate of primary production by phytoplankton is occurring in its ice-free waters. Phytoplankton take up a lot of carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, and when the water flows further north under the polar ice, it is under-saturated with carbon dioxide. But now that the sea ice cover is less extensive during the summer, the uptake of carbon dioxide by the sea water can continue, and the oceans are becoming more acidic.
Sea butterflies may be adversely affected
Researchers have already been able to note that acidification affects marine life in the polar oceans.

"Phytoplankton, which take up carbon dioxide, are benefiting from climate change. For other species however, the news is not so good. Sea butterflies are a species of predatory sea snail that have shells of aragonite which they form from calcium and carbonate ions. We have measured lower and lower aragonite saturation levels of in the ocean from our expeditions," says Leif Anderson.

Sea butterflies are a key species and an important staple food for many whales that normally migrate up to the Arctic Ocean to feed and fatten. But now there might be less food in the pantry.

The reduced sea ice coverage is an important factor in polar oceans becoming more acidic, and another is the warming of the high Arctic tundra. Large quantities of organic carbon are being released and being carried into the Arctic rivers, where it decomposes into carbon dioxide among other things, which results in lower pH values.

"All of these factors are consequences of climate change, and more open waters in the Arctic is amplifying their effects," says Leif Anderson.

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global warming; climate; oceanography; geography; early climate; evolution; ancient dna; fossils

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Warmer climate causing acidification of the Arctic Ocean

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Climate change is causing the Arctic Ocean's sea ice to melt away. When the polar ocean loses its cover of sea ice, carbon dioxide uptake increases disrupting the food web in the water according to a study in the journal Science co-authored by researchers from the University of Gothenburg.

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Learning that Ocean acidification drastically affects coral reefs. Having a more corals species in reefs will help corals survive and thrive.

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Biodiversity helps coral reefs thrive – and could be part of strategies to save them

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In a study that cultivated coral ‘gardens’ with varying numbers of species, plots with more species were healthier. This finding could inform strategies to help coral reefs survive climate change.

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Ocean Acidification greatly impacts marine life, not only in America but everywhere else. Learning that Japan has the most acidification overall was very shocking to me. Finding out that many countries and cultures depend on the Ocean for food and resources really makes me want to learn more to see if there is any way to stop this.

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Ocean acidification is caused by CO2 absorption in the oceans, which can harm marine organisms and ecosystems. Efforts to control it require reducing future CO2 emissions, a key focus of ongoing international climate negotiations like COP 15.

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In addition to global warming, carbon dioxide emissions cause another, less well-known but equally serious and worrying phenomenon: ocean acidification. Researchers in the Laboratoire d'Océanographie at Villefranche (LOV) (CNRS / UPMC) have just demonstrated that key marine organisms, such as deep-water corals and pteropods (shelled pelagic mollusks) will be profoundly affected by this phenomenon during the years to come.

Two studies have been published in the journal Biogeosciences.

Since 1800, one third of anthropogenic CO ₂ emissions has been absorbed by the oceans, corresponding to an annual uptake of one ton of CO ₂ per person. This massive absorption has allowed to partly mitigate climate change but it has also caused a major disruption to the chemistry of seawater. Indeed, this absorbed CO ₂ causes an acidification of the oceans and, at the current rate of emissions, it is estimated that their pH will fall by 0.4 units between now and 2100. This corresponds to a 3-fold increase of the mean acidity of the oceans, which is unprecedented during the past 20 million years. The LOV team, led by Jean-Pierre Gattuso, studied the impact of such a reduction in pH on calcifying organisms. Pteropods (pelagic marine mollusks) and deep-water corals, both playing essential roles in their respective ecosystems, live in areas that will be among the first to be affected by ocean acidification.

The pteropod Limacina helicina thus has an important part to play in the food chain and functioning of the Arctic marine ecosystem. Its calcium carbonate shell provides vital protection. However, the LOV study has shown that the shell of this mollusk develops at a rate that is 30% slower when it is kept in seawater with the characteristics anticipated in 2100. An even more marked reduction (50%) has been measured in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa. While tropical coral reefs are built by a large number of species, coral communities in cold waters are constructed by one or two species but provide shelter for many others. A reduction in the growth of reef-building corals due to ocean acidification may therefore threaten the very existence of these biological structures.

These first results raise major concerns about the future of pteropods, deep-water corals and the organisms that depend on them for nutrition or habitat. Research programs such as EPOCA, coordinated by CNRS, are planning new studies on other marine organisms and ecosystems. They are carrying out long-term experiments to study the combined impact of ocean acidification and other parameters that will also be modified during the decades to come, such as temperature and nutrient concentrations.

Ocean acidification can only be controlled by limiting future atmospheric levels of CO ₂. Negotiations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (COP 15) are under way and should be finalized in Copenhagen next December. These negotiations must take account not only of increased temperature but also of the acidic nature of CO ₂ which, once absorbed by the oceans, will have potentially dramatic effects on numerous marine organisms and ecosystems.

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marine biology; fish; sea life; nature; ecology; ecosystems; oceanography; global warming

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Ocean Acidification: Impact On Key Organisms Of Oceanic Fauna May Be Worse Than Predicted

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In addition to global warming, carbon dioxide emissions cause another, less well-known but equally serious and worrying phenomenon: ocean acidification. Researchers have just demonstrated that key marine organisms, such as deep-water corals and pteropods (shelled pelagic mollusks) will be profoundly affected by this phenomenon during the years to come.

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Protecting the fragile Arctic ecosystem from potential overfishing, acknowledging the lack of scientific knowledge about marine resources in the region. This shows the importance of marine life.

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protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem from potential overfishing, acknowledging the lack of scientific knowledge about marine resources in the region. The agreement underscores the importance of establishing regulatory systems and conducting further research before allowing commercial fishing activities in these international waters.

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Many deaths in different species, changes in behavior or physical appearance, and harming the whole Eco system/ environment.

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Ocean acidification occurs due to the ocean absorption of CO2 from human activities.

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College of Life Sciences and Agriculture | University of New Hampshire

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At the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, we seek to make a difference — from identifying the molecular pathway that leads to a new treatment for disease, to understanding the complex forces that impact our ecosystems and natural landscapes.

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I think I want to research Ocean Acidification which must be addressed to reach SDG #14. I will focus on South America and Asia to cut down CO2 emissions. I want to research this because I have an interest in marine life and how to prevent ocean life to get harmed

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What are the potential long-term effects of Ocean acidification on the trophic dynamics and biodiversity of marine food webs in polar regions?

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Ocean acidification occurs as it absorbs about 25-30% of human-made CO₂ emissions, causing seawater pH to drop and become more acidic, with a global average decline of 0.1 pH units since the Industrial Revolution.

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Acidification reduces the availability of carbonate ions, essential for calcifying organisms like corals, shellfish, and plankton, threatening marine ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide.

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Ocean acidification threatens fisheries, aquaculture, and coastal communities globally by disrupting marine food chains, reducing seafood availability and affecting lives dependent on marine resources.