Invertebrate Ocean Acidification and the Research Paper

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Total Length: 921 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

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" (SD, 1)

McClintock goes on to connect this to pointedly negative consequences for marine life, arguing that many invertebrates are distinctly vulnerable because their protective shells require many of the nutrients naturally available in their surrounding water to maintain hardness or to develop at all. This is a concern which is also raised in the article by Monroe (2009), where the results of an experiment designed to confirm this effect were as expected. Accordingly, "[Victoria] Fabry, a biological oceanographer and visiting researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, studies the effects of ocean acidification on the mollusks known as pteropods. In one experiment, only 48 hours of exposure to slightly corrosive seawater caused normally smooth shells to become frayed at the edges on their way to eventual dissolution, severely diminishing their owners' chances of survival." (Monroe, 1)

This demonstrates that the increased acidification of the ocean's waters is causing a direct reduction in certain shell-dependent species of invertebrate. The article published by ANI (2010) identifies several species which have already begun to show evidence of the negative repercussions of the increased acidification. ANI reports that "the increased acidity of the seawater itself can literally begin to eat away at the outer surfaces of shells of existing clams, snails and other calcified organisms, which could cause species to die outright or become vulnerable to new predators.

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" (p. 1)

Where the former occurs, we can begin to see the manner in which the diminished presence of one species can cause a chain reaction disrupting entire ecosystems. According to Townend (2010), such species "are common ocean prey, and plankton are at the base of the ocean food chain, so when these animals suffer, so do the countless animals that eat them. Ocean acidification could disrupt the entire marine ecosystem." (p. 1)

To the point, evidence further suggests that the process of acidification is poisoning not just invertebrates but simultaneously their host habitats. Pinet (2009) gives extensive attention to the fact that the coral reef habitats upon which so many species depend for sustenance and survival are being 'bleached' by the toxic levels of acidity in their surrounding water. (p. 573)

Hypothesis:

This preliminary research contributes to the following hypothesis, upon which further research is to be conducted: The disruption of invertebrate ecologies as a result of ocean acidification is having a direct impact on the marine life upon which human's rely as a major food source.

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