Ocean Acidification: Impact of CO2 on Ocean Water

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Introduction:
Human activities have led to an exponential increase in the use of fossil fuel. The benefits of using fossil fuels are short lived in comparison to its long-term negative effects. In the last couple of decades, the major consumption of fossil fuel played a significant role in the rise of concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Roughly two trillion metric tons of CO2 have been emitted in the atmosphere and over a quarter of these got mixed with the ocean water resulting in ocean acidification (Buffie and Carr, 2010).
Ocean acidification is the decrease of pH in the oceans due to absorption of CO2 in the atmosphere (Fabry, 2008). Over the past three hundred million years ocean pH levels have been 8.3, however in the past 200 years the pH level of oceans’ have reduced to 8.1, an increase of 25% in the acidity level (Bednaršek, 2012). The CO2 in the ocean reacts with water to form carbonic acid and consume carbonate ions. As a result a lot of marine species are suffering high mortality rate, lower reproduction and the disruption of ecosystems and food chains. Moreover, over 22 million tons of carbon dioxide goes to the ocean every day (Buffie and Carr, 2010). If the rate of CO2 emission in the ocean is not reduced, the predicted ocean CO2 concentration will be 200% by the end of this century (Buffie and Carr, 2010). This paper will explain two major lines of evidence for ocean acidification. The first evidence is based on the impacts of acidity of ocean on calcifying organisms and the second one is acidosis and impact of CO2 on the physiological process of marine species (Silver Sunbream Fish). Lastly the paper will also touch on the potential pitfall correlated with the conducted experiments, which might have hindered t...

... middle of paper ...

... Kikkawa, T., Hayashi, M., Lee, K. S., & Kita, J. (2004). Effects of CO2 on marine fish: larvae and adults. Journal of oceanography, 60(4), 731-741.

Kump, L.R., Kasting, J. F., & Crane, R.G. (2010). Long-Term Climate Climate Regulation. The earth system (3rd ed., pp. 240-247). San Francisco: Prentice Hall
Raven, J., Caldeira, K., Elderfield, H., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Liss, P., Riebesell, U., ... & Watson, A. (2005). Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Royal Society
Weiss, I. M., Tuross, N., Addadi, L., & Weiner, S. (2002). Mollusc larval shell formation: amorphous calcium carbonate is a precursor phase for aragonite. Journal of Experimental
Zoology, 293(5), 478-491.
Wisshak, M., Schönberg, C.H.L., Form, A. & Freiwald A (2012) Ocean Acidification Accelerates Reef Bioerosion. PLoS ONE 7(9): e45124. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045124

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