Acidifying Oceans Spell Marine Biological Meltdown ‘By End of Century’

An eye opening report on ocean acidification.  The press release from the Geological Society is below

A unique ‘natural laboratory’ in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive extinctions in the past.

25 August 2010

The scientists, from the University of Plymouth and the University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, studied a single celled organisms called Foraminifera around volcanic carbon dioxide vents off Naples in Italy. The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of the Geological Society, found that increasing CO2 levels caused foram diversity to fall from 24 species to only 4.

‘Previous studies have shown a reduction in diversity of 30%, but this is even bigger for forams’, said Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, one of the study’s co-authors. ‘A tipping point occurs at mean pH 7.8. This is the pH level predicted for the end of this century’.

Rising carbon dioxide levels acidify the ocean, which has a particularly devastating effect on organisms that have calcium carbonate shells, like Foraminifera.

‘Forams are well preserved in the fossil record, which is why we chose to study them’, says Dr Hall-Spencer. ‘We knew the results were likely to show a decline in foram diversity but we weren’t expecting such a seismic shift’.

Forams record past events in the geological record – in particular, the effect of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period of massive carbon release and rapid warming, 55 million years ago, accompanied by extinctions in marine life. It is also thought to have seen a period of ocean acidification.

‘That was a period when massive changes in marine ecology happened’ says Dr Hall-Spencer. ‘Our natural laboratory provides a glimpse into the future of our oceans’.

‘These are the first CO2 vents to be used to study ocean acidification. They allow us to observe how ecosystems react to changes in ocean acidity. We can see for our own eyes what increasing CO2 levels do to marine communities’.

‘At a mean pH level of 7.8, calcified organisms begin to disappear, and non calcifying ones take over. We are headed towards that being the case in this century. The big concern for me is that unless we curb carbon emissions we risk mass extinctions, degrading coastal waters and encouraging outbreaks of toxic jellyfish and algae.’

Co-author Professor Malcolm Hart will be presenting the research to the 2010 FORAMS meeting in Bonn on Friday 6 September. This weekend, Deborah Wall-Palmer will present the work being done at Plymouth on the last 250,000 years of ocean acidification at the International Palaeoceanography Conference in San Diego, being held on 29 August – 3 September.

• Full bibliographic information ‘Modern seawater acidification: the response of foraminifers to high-CO2 conditions in the Mediterranean Sea’

B.B. Dias, M.B. Hart, C.W. Smart and J.M. Hall-Spencer
Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 167, 2010, pp. 1 – 4.

Slinging it: A political necessity

My first column for this semester is out in the Diamondback, and it’s less environmental and more about the need for elected officials to take greater risks to solve problems, and the need for voters to tolerate those risks.  Enjoy!

By Matt Dernoga

I wrote a farewell column in May to my readers (mom, girlfriend, livid tea partiers). But now I’m enrolled in graduate school and writing for another semester. A friend told me that by writing a farewell column and then un-retiring, I was following in the footsteps of NFL quarterback Brett Favre, who has made an annoying ritual out of this. I actually admire Favre for his approach to football. He goes out there and slings it around like it’s his last game. He wins big by taking risks and, consequentially, loses big by the same measure.

I contrast that from what I see too often from decision-makers in politics, who toe the line between constituencies on two sides of an issue. Most legislation nowadays is inconsequential and more effective in scoring political points than in tackling big-picture problems. Instead, major issues such as a multibillion-dollar structural budget deficit in this state, a Chesapeake Bay on the ropes and the Purple Line are tackled in broad rhetoric. This is especially striking in this year’s election season, with primary day on Sept. 14. The fear of backlash prevents serious proposals from being put on the table so voters are more informed.

You see economic plans that talk about increasing efficiencies in government — a worthy goal that, after major cuts to local and state budgets, is like reaching around in a piggy bank for that solitary penny. Tax credits are a favorite. Credits for small businesses that stand on water. Credits for mini-wind turbines on your baby’s stroller. Credits for people who apply for tax credits. Tax credits of all forms abound. In all seriousness, I like a lot of the tax credits we have, but there comes a point where you need to stop nibbling at the edges and take a bite.

Another example is the Purple Line — a proposed light-rail line that would connect Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and run through this campus — which practically everyone supports. But try asking a politician how they’re going to help us pay for it. In every scenario, the state will have to pony up some matching funds for any federal grant money we get. Are politicians going to cut tens of millions of dollars each year in transportation funding for other projects? Are politicians going to increase the gas tax to raise several hundred million dollars?

What’s unfortunate about this apprehension over solving problems is that we share the blame. Too many victory-starved political pundits, activists and insiders play along with bland candidate platforms they know won’t address the issues. Voters get cynical and detach from the political process or, even worse, play along with the game, hoping this time will be different.

In a competitive world where we’re just trying not to lose, we plod along, asphyxiated by the mediocrity of our politicians. But this is a democracy, and our elected officials are a reflection of the best and the worst of you and me. As individuals, we’re put into a comfort zone by our peers and society. We’re told how we’re supposed to act and think so we’ll be accepted. We drift toward voting for those who reflect that comfort zone.

If we want to break the walls down and find hard-fought-over successes in our lives and our society, we need to take more chances and have greater tolerance for leaders who ask us to trust them as they take their own chances. You could call it change. I call it going out there and slinging it.

Matt Dernoga is a graduate student in public policy. He can be reached at dernoga@umdbk.com