Ocean Acidification
Ocean Acidification Reduces Habitat for Antarctic Organisms
A new study uses a climate model to predict that ocean acidification will reduce the viable habitat for many marine organisms in the Antarctic over the next century. This is because more acidic seawater dissolves the chemical compounds that the organisms need to form their shells. Channing PrendI’m a physical oceanography PhD student at Scripps […]
Changing Oceans May Confuse Critically Endangered European Eels
European Eels are in trouble, and a warming, acidifying ocean might make survival even tougher for the critically endangered species. New research breaks down how a changing ocean could confuse these long-distance swimmers as they navigate to their migration destinations. Sierra GarciaI am a master’s student from Monterey, California studying environmental and science communication at […]
A Person (or Fish) on the Inside: Scientists Discover New Ally to Fight Coral Bleaching.
Our ocean continues to warm at a rate faster than anyone expected and coral reefs are facing an absolutely massive threat. Scientists are hard at work, attempting to solve the global crisis that is climate change-induced coral bleaching and death. But what if these scientists had someone on the inside to help? Rishya NarayananRishya is pursuing […]
Acid loving algae? How ocean acidification may contribute to harmful algal blooms
Climate change isn’t just changing temperatures–climate change is changing the pH of our ocean, with big impacts on marine food webs! Read up on a recent study describing how elevated carbon dioxide lead to harmful algal bloom conditions in the Northwest Atlantic. Anna RobuckI am a third year PhD student at the University of Rhode […]
Coral Cultures- A Test of Strength
What corals can best tolerate the effects of climate change? Check out this review of a recent paper by Yuan et al. to find out! Melanie FeenI am a first year graduate student at the Graduate School of Oceanography at University of Rhode Island. I use robots and satellites to research the biological carbon pump, […]
Seaweed may be a winner in a warming world
Have you ever thought about ocean critters that might benefit from climate change? Hernández et al. collected six species of seaweed to investigate who might thrive in the warmer, more acidic waters of the future. Read more to see if any seaweed species were winners! Victoria TreadawayI am a PhD candidate at the Graduate School […]
More Intense Summer to Winter Swings in Oceanic Dissolved CO2
Ocean CO2 levels vary depending on the time of year. Landschützer and his colleagues are the first to show that human-emitted CO2 is making these seasonal swings more severe, potentially to the detriment of many marine organisms. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Her focus is […]
Ocean Acidification: No Longer Confined to the Sea Surface
Acidification, one of the highest-visibility impacts of human activity on the ocean, was thought to be confined to its upper layers. Chen and his colleagues show that’s no longer the case. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Her focus is on biogeochemistry, which, as the name […]
Wandering copepods can’t find their way home in acidic oceans
Journal source: Smith, J. N., C. Richter, K. Fabricius, and A. Cornils. 2017. Pontellid copepods affected by ocean acidification: A field study at natural CO2 seeps. PLoS ONE 12 doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175663. Introduction Ocean acidification (OA for short) is a topic that seems to be receiving increased attention, and if you’ve scrolled through some recent Oceanbites posts, […]
It’s Getting Hot In Here: How Ocean Acidification and Warming Affect Shark Hunting and Behavior
Elasmobranchs such as sharks and rays face physiological and behavioral changes due to ocean acidification and rising ocean temperatures. Read about how these changes influence how sharks hunt and their role in the marine ecosystem. Aditi TripathyHello! I am an undergraduate student majoring in Marine Biology with a minor in Acoustics at the University of […]
Stressed-out microbes in an acidifying ocean
The ocean is acidifying in response to carbon dioxide emissions, but we are just beginning to learn how this effects the ocean’s most abundant lifeforms – microbes. Michael GrawI’m a 5th year PhD student at Oregon State University researching the microbial ecology of marine sediments – why do we find microbes where they are in […]
Small but mighty: Will the epaulette shark survive ocean acidification?
Check out the first installation of Sharkbites Saturday! The epaulette shark is a small egg-laying species native to Australia. In this study, scientists look at the effects that increased carbon dioxide from climate change may have on these interesting reef dwellers. Carolyn WheelerI am currently a PhD student studying marine science at the University of […]
Ocean acidification makes predators dumb
Chemistry is important for a lot of things, but can it change the behavior of animals? Read on to find out how changes in water chemistry alter the behavior of a venomous cone snail! Erin McLeanHi and welcome to oceanbites! I recently finished my master’s degree at URI, focusing on lobsters and how they respond […]
What Does the US Election Mean for Our Oceans?
The oceans are subject to the whims of national policy, and yet they know no borders. Being poor ocean stewards here in the US could cause serious problems all over the world, as well as affecting the smidgeon of blue we can see from our shores. In this post, I outline a few ideas about […]
Can being sick be a good thing for surviving ocean acidification?
Scientists (myself included!) have been doing a lot of work on how marine animals respond to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, but CO2 alone isn’t the only problem. This study looks at how having a parasite affects survival in marine snails exposed to high CO2 – do they survive longer in those conditions with or […]
Ocean Acidification Disrupts Yellowfin Tuna Development
We’ve heard a lot about ocean acidification and how it negatively impacts calcified organisms like corals or shellfish. But did you know that acidification also has wide-ranging impacts on other marine species? Researchers recently found lethal and sublethal effects of acidification on yellowfin tuna. Dina NavonI am a doctoral candidate in the Organismic and Evolutionary […]
Larval Donkey’s ear abalone threatened by climate change
Abalone are an economically and culturally important group of edible sea snails, and a new study demonstrates that they’re at serious risk of decline due to ocean acidification. Dina NavonI am a doctoral candidate in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I’m interested in how an individual’s genes and […]
Disoriented fish are getting lost at sea!
Young fish rely on sound cues to navigate the vast ocean, but as our oceans acidify, the journey home to safely settle becomes much more difficult. Disoriented and slow, these fish are getting lost at sea Valeska UphamFor my fisheries and aquatic science PhD I am working on how to tank raise urchins and transplant […]
Are marine “nuisance” species expected to increase under ocean acidification?
Most studies that look at how animals respond to climate change look at species we like – oysters, corals, and whales are just a few examples. The authors of this review looked at something else – how are the species we hate going to respond to climate change, specifically ocean acidification? Read on to find […]
Rapid changes in the Southern Ocean threaten ecosystems
Rapid acidification of the Southern Ocean could occur in the next 30 years with potentially huge impacts to local ecosystems. Veronica TamsittI’m a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla California. My research is focused on the Southern Ocean circulation and it’s role in climate. For my research I sometimes spend months […]
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