Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Coral doctor sounds the alarm about more acidic seas
This article has to do with ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Basically what is happening to our oceans is that the phytoplankton (the base of the aquatic food chain) absorbs 1/3 of the carbon dioxide we put into the air, which slows the process of the greenhouse effects a great deal. But, what some marine biologists are discovering is that this poses a major threat to the ocean life due to acidification. If this process continues at the rate it is moving, it shows a huge problem for the entire marine ecosystem. Scientists have figured out that the ocean absorbs about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide everyday. The problem is the absorbtion is climbing to a rate not seen in millions of years. Measurements have indicated that the acidic level is about 30% more acidic since the industrial revolution. Acid wears down the corals skeletons and that therefore ruins most of the marine ecosystems and food webs. Without them we would be lost because this affects even the smallest phytoplankton to the largest barracudas. The carbon dioxide rate has to be lowered soon, say most scientists, because as John Guinotte says “If marine systems start to crash, it may well be too late to stop the train.”
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These new discoveries are very interesting. I would agree with the marine biologists that we need to do something about the increasing acidic level. Our oceans and bodies of water are very important to our society and this increasing acidic level will destroy all marine systems. If the ocean's food webs are ruined then our diet is affected. We eat fish and this increasing acidic affects the fish. Thats why we should do something to lower the acidic level because it is not only affecting the oceans but also us.
ReplyDeletehttp://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2009/11/CoralF1TULG.jpg
This link above will take you to a picture I found of two seas. The one sea is beatufil with clear waters and colorful reefs. The other sea is not so pretty though. The water is dark and the reef is dirty. This picture comparing the two seas, shows how too much CO2 is affecting our oceans.
With the amount of pollution that we put into the air, it's no wonder that it is having an effect. I think that reducing pollutants should have a higher priority because in coming years these things will defintely hit us where it hurts.
ReplyDeleteIt really annoys me that politicians, etc. go around talking about being good to the environment and yet we drive our gasoline cars and burn our coal fuel day after day. Hopefully someone will come up with new technology to replace these things.
Has anyone heard of any new technology that's in development?
What do you think the world will look like if we don't take care of the environment?
How could you help out in the effort to preserve our planet?
If this continues and nothing is done about it, humans will feel the consequences. With the acidic level rising, it will affect fish and other marine life and eventually us. Think about it this way, the average person eats 16.4 kg of fish annually, with all this acid getting into the water, there is bound to be many infected fish which can cause humans to become sick. Also it will cause many fish to die if they do not live through the sting of the acid.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to stop this problem is to lower the amount of carbon in the air as stated in the article. Though this may seem hard, it can be possible with some sacrifices and spending.One thing that would have to be done is to try to get alternative sources of energy. By putting up solar panels and wind mills, you can reduce carbon dioxide emissions greatly because less coal will be burned to produce electricity. This has been the solution for years but with us humans being the procrastinators we are, we did not act right away as we should have and these problems arose
http://www.homemadeenergyreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/homesolar.jpg
Now we are taking action by using alternative energy as shown in this picture. If more and more people start to take action and use alternative energy, this problem may be gone in the future.
I agree with everyone. It is absolutely ridiculous what us humans have been allowed to do to our planet. This is just yet another reason to work in the opposite direction. I think a major problem is that things like this are not the things you would see on the news, or in the paper. People would have to subscribe to a reader or go searching on websites to find this stuff out. I think REALLY publicising info like this would make people way more consious of our rapidly changing environment. If we can change Earth for the worse, we can definitley change it for the better.
ReplyDelete