Pacific Ocean acidification jeopardizes marine life

Vancouver Island researchers use artificial tide pools to study threat

The Pacific Ocean is growing more acidic at a much faster rate than anticipated, scientists say, putting everything from corals to mussels in jeopardy.

Researchers say carbon dioxide from the atmosphere forms carbonic acid in the ocean, changing the seawater enough that it can dissolve the shells of coral and shellfish.

The water off the west coast of Vancouver Island is changing at an unprecedented rate, meaning vulnerable life forms in the ocean’s food chain must adapt or die.

UBC PhD student Kathryn Anderson says sea urchins are one of the many species extremely sensitive to the changes now underway.

“It’ll hit the larval stage, it’ll hit the fertilization stage, it’ll hit the adult stage,” she said.

Pacific worst placed for acid threat

Ocean acidification poses a serious threat to coral reefs and marine life, but nowhere worse than in the Pacific Islands, a Samoan environmentalist says.

The oceans absorb about 30 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, which while possibly reducing the effects of climate change, it also makes the oceans more acidic, Iosefa Percival said.

This could lead to dire consequences because if the current rate of CO2 emissions continues, coral reefs could begin to erode and dissolve in less than 40 years, threatening the marine environment Pacific Islanders rely on.