At Copenhagen global warming conference, alarms on ocean
acidification

December 15, 2009

Walk the halls at the cavernous Bella Conference center in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and it's no surprise that global warming gets all the buzz, all the
time. Carbon dioxide's other effect, to increase the acidity of sea water,
is a bit like the toddler constantly tugging at the trouser legs of its
elders, asking: "What about me?"

On Monday, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity attempted to strengthen
that tug by releasing a "synthesis report" on ocean acidification. The
oceans' acidity has increased 30 percent over the last 250 years. But at
current carbon-dioxide emission rates from factories, power plants, and
other human activities, ocean acidity could increase by 150 percent by 2050,
according to the survey of recent research on the subject.

If that occurs, it would represent an increase some 100 times faster than
ocean life has experienced in the last 20 million years - a rate that
outpaces the ability of shell-building marine life to adapt to the shift
through evolution. As the oceans become more acidic, they eat into stores of
carbonate minerals dissolved in seawater. Many ocean animals use various
forms of these carbonates to build shells, or in the case of corals, to
generate the skeletons they live in and that form coral reefs.

Humans rely on many of these animals indirectly, since they serve as food
for large fish. And they rely on some of them directly as food - lobsters,
clams, oysters, conch, and a range of other high-value creatures. In the
case of corals, reefs provide a dual benefit as nurseries for fish, and as a
first barrier against coastal erosion from high waves and storm surges.

The bottom line: Even if carbon dioxide had no effect on climate, burning
fossil fuels - a process that releases CO2 sequestered deep underground for
millions of years - would still alter the oceans and the marine life it
supports.
                Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2009/1215/At-Copenhagen-global-warming-conference-alarms-on-ocean-acidification