Blogs & Ecology

I'm sure you're probably getting tired of hearing me drone on and on about ocean acidification (even though it arguably poses one of the greatest threats to our planet's livelihood), so I thought I'd let somebody else -- who's actually well-versed in the subject -- do the talking.

Though better known for its spectacular exhibits, the Monterey Bay Aquarium also boasts a crack research institute -- the appropriately named Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) -- which has been spending the last few years studying ocean acidification. While a bit on the short side,

Image from NASA

Image from jurvetson

Image from Wikimedia

Image from BBC

Image courtesy of pierreyves0 via flickr

It's generally accepted that increasingly acidified oceans could prove disastrous for most forms of marine life. We say most - coral reefs, certain phytoplankton species and larger organisms - because oceanographers are still hard at work studying the effects of higher carbon dioxide levels on individual species. Many, in fact, have now concluded that higher levels of dissolved carbon dioxide could help some species thrive over others. ...