There is growing concern regarding the acidification of the oceans due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions. Studies in the past have shown that some shelled creatures in the oceans will have their shells become brittle and thin due to acidification. However, a newer study is shedding light on the varying implications of increasing ocean acidification.
The recent study by a group of researchers has been published in the journal Geology. The group studied 18 creatures which have shells of varying kinds, including shrimp, crabs, lobsters and mussels. Of the 18 creatures studied, 7 were actually able to grow more shell rather than their shells becoming thinner.
The researchers were surprised by these findings since one of the most important parts of building a shell is carbonate ions which are minimized in acidified oceans. The creatures which exhibited more shell after the increased acidification were the crab, lobster and shrimp. Temperature urchins, limpets and calcifying red and green algae also exhibited positive impacts from acidification.
Just B. Ries, a participant of the study at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, stated: “Most likely the organisms that responded positively were somehow able to manipulate […] dissolved inorganic carbon in the fluid from which they precipitated their skeleton in a way that was beneficial to them. They were somehow able to manipulate carbon dioxide.”
Due to the varying impacts of acidification shown by such as study, the researchers have pointed to the need to study individual creatures to determine the true impacts on each species. Coral, for example, suffers when exposed to increasing acidification.
Anne L. Cohen, one of the authors of the study, stated: “I wouldn’t make any predictions based on these results. What these results indicate to us is that the organism response to elevated CO2 levels is complex and we now need to go back and study each organism in detail.”
