Article 3
Topic: The Decline on pH and Cause of Carbon Dioxide Absorption
Author: Stacey Solie
Date: October 6, 2012
This article explains the effects of the decline on the pH and the carbon dioxide absorption of the water in Tatoosh, Island at Washinton. Researchers named Dr. Pfister, Dr. Wootton, and Dr. Paine visited the island to monitor and study the island's species. They noticed that populations of gulls and murres started to decline, mussel shells became thinner and started to detach from rocks more easily and with greater frequency. Goose barnacles are also suffering while the wine-collored coralline algae starts to appear like "graffiti along rocky shorelines." Biologists suspected that the decline in water's pH is the cause of this decline. The absorption of excess carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere leads to a shift in pH that ultimately affects the well-being of the marine animals that live in the island. As carbon dioxide is absorbed, the oceanic water chemistry is changed, making it more acidic. Barnacles, oysters and mussels find it more difficult to survive, which can cause chain reactions among the animals that eat those species, like birds and people.
I decided to choose this article because I recently learned how the absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans can affect the aquatic ecosystem as a whole. It is scary to think that this actually happens in parts of the world and what I learned from class helped me understand our severe impact on the marine environment. Since we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon dioxide and it eventually ends up in the water. This causes a shift in pH, leading to a drastic change in the development of the aquatic animals. Shelled organisms are unable to survive because the carbonic acid dissolves the calcium carbonate that makes up the shells.
Author: Stacey Solie
Date: October 6, 2012
This article explains the effects of the decline on the pH and the carbon dioxide absorption of the water in Tatoosh, Island at Washinton. Researchers named Dr. Pfister, Dr. Wootton, and Dr. Paine visited the island to monitor and study the island's species. They noticed that populations of gulls and murres started to decline, mussel shells became thinner and started to detach from rocks more easily and with greater frequency. Goose barnacles are also suffering while the wine-collored coralline algae starts to appear like "graffiti along rocky shorelines." Biologists suspected that the decline in water's pH is the cause of this decline. The absorption of excess carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere leads to a shift in pH that ultimately affects the well-being of the marine animals that live in the island. As carbon dioxide is absorbed, the oceanic water chemistry is changed, making it more acidic. Barnacles, oysters and mussels find it more difficult to survive, which can cause chain reactions among the animals that eat those species, like birds and people.
I decided to choose this article because I recently learned how the absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans can affect the aquatic ecosystem as a whole. It is scary to think that this actually happens in parts of the world and what I learned from class helped me understand our severe impact on the marine environment. Since we burn fossil fuels, we release carbon dioxide and it eventually ends up in the water. This causes a shift in pH, leading to a drastic change in the development of the aquatic animals. Shelled organisms are unable to survive because the carbonic acid dissolves the calcium carbonate that makes up the shells.