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This is not a good news story. But it is an extremely important one. We’re talking about ocean acidification.

As if rising sea levels and increased extreme weather events weren’t bad enough. It turns out that climate change is also going take hold of our oceans in a big, scary way.

While we’re pumping carbon emissions into the atmosphere, the ocean is absorbing it, in greater and greater quantities. And now it looks like the levels of carbon being absorbed in the oceans are causing the seas to turn acidic. This acid – known as carbon acid - will have a series of very serious knock-on effects for ecosystems both in and out of our oceans.

Firstly, the ocean acidity has an effect on the ability of shellfish and corals to develop their calciferous shells and structures. We don’t know if these creatures will be able to adapt to the increase in acidity, and there is a chance that their numbers will be significantly depleted.

This has a knock-on effect for all those species that depend on shellfish and coral reefs for survival. That’s a lot of species. One in four species in the ocean live and depend upon coral reefs for survival. If those ecosystems start to decline and those species go hungry, then what happens? Well, sadly those species that feed on them also start to go hungry. And that includes us.

It’s a scary prospect, and one that is getting some serious attention from scientists and policy makers. It’s an issue that threatens millions of people around the world who depend on the oceans for food and livelihoods. And of course it threatens the lives of millions of oceanic species.

Ocean acidification and two scenarios: high carbon emissions and reduced carbon emissions.
Click image to enlarge.