An information outlet on ocean acidification provided by EPOCA, the European Project on Ocean Acidification
Une classe du collège Charles III a traduit de l’anglais et réalisé le doublage du dessin animé « Epoca », qui présente de manière accessible les dangers de l’acidification des océans, altérant le bon développement de certaines espèces. Le fruit de ce travail a été présenté au Musée Océanographique et dans les classes de la Principauté.
Greenhouse gases don’t just cause global warming… Meet a new threat: ocean acidification.
Cartoon on ocean acidification by Rosemary Mosco.
This study tested the hypothesis that the response of corals to temperature and pCO2 is consistent between taxa. Juvenile massive Porites spp. and branches of P. rus from the back reef of Moorea were incubated for 1 month under combinations of temperature (29.3 °C and 25.6 °C) and pCO2 (41.6 Pa and 81.5 Pa) at an irradiance of 599 μmol quanta m−2 s−1. Using microcosms and CO2 gas mixing technology, treatments were created in a partly nested design (tanks) with two between-plot factors (temperature and pCO2), and one within-plot factor (taxon); calcification was used as a dependent variable. pCO2 and temperature independently affected calcification, but the response differed between taxa. Massive Porites spp. was largely unaffected by the treatments, but P. rus grew 50% faster at 29.3 °C compared with 25.6 °C, and 28% slower at 81.5 Pa vs. 41.6 Pa CO2. A compilation of studies placed the present results in a broader context and tested the hypothesis that calcification for individual coral genera is independent of pH, [HCO3−], and [CO32−]. Unlike recent reviews, this analysis was restricted to studies reporting calcification in units that could be converted to nmol CaCO3 cm−2 h−1. The compilation revealed a high degree of variation in calcification as a function of pH, [HCO3−], and [CO32−], and supported three conclusions: (1) studies of the effects of ocean acidification on corals need to pay closer attention to reducing variance in experimental outcomes to achieve stronger synthetic capacity, (2) coral genera respond in dissimilar ways to pH, [HCO3−], and [CO32−], and (3) calcification of massive Porites spp. is relatively resistant to short exposures of increased pCO2, similar to that expected within 100 y.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy and its United Nations Convention Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) cruises has produced new synoptic data from samples collected in the Arctic Ocean and insights into the patterns and extent of ocean acidification. This framework of foundational geochemical information will help inform our understanding of potential risks to Arctic resources due to ocean acidification.
Continue reading ‘Studying ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean’
