Many economies are dependent on fish and shellfish and people worldwide rely on food from the ocean as their primary source of protein. Ocean acidification is affecting the entire world’s oceans, including coastal estuaries and waterways. When these organisms are at risk, the entire food web may also be at risk. Certain fish's ability to detect predators is decreased in more acidic waters. These changes in ocean chemistry can affect the behavior of non-calcifying organisms as well. Carbon dioxide was discovered in the 1600s by a Belgian chemist named Jan Baptist van Helmont. It is made up of one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen. Decreases in carbonate ions can make building and maintaining shells and other calcium carbonate structures difficult for calcifying organisms such as oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, deep sea corals, and calcareous plankton. Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound that is usually in the form of a gas. The USGS is conducting assessments on two major types of carbon sequestration: geologic and biologic. It is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change. This increase causes the seawater to become more acidic and causes carbonate ions to be relatively less abundant.Ĭarbonate ions are an important building block of structures such as sea shells and coral skeletons. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. But CO 2 is only good up to a point beyond that point, Earth's temperature warms up too much. It helps Earth hold some of the heat it receives from the Sun so it doesn't all escape back into space. When CO 2 is absorbed by seawater, a series of chemical reactions occur resulting in the increased concentration of hydrogen ions. The Short Answer: Carbon is in carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas that traps heat close to Earth. The ocean absorbs about 30 percent of the CO 2 that is released in the atmosphere, and as levels of atmospheric CO 2 increase, so do the levels in the ocean. For more than 200 years, or since the industrial revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO 2) in the atmosphere has increased due to the burning of fossil fuels and land use change.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |