{"id":46300,"date":"2016-12-07T14:44:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=46300"},"modified":"2016-12-06T14:45:27","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T19:45:27","slug":"ocean-acidification-may-cause-cascading-loss-biodiversity-marine-habitats-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/ocean-acidification-may-cause-cascading-loss-biodiversity-marine-habitats-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Acidification May Cause Cascading Loss Of Biodiversity In Some Marine Habitats, Research Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
The ocean acidification that’s now occurring, as a result of increasing anthropogenic levels of carbon dioxide emissions, will led to cascading losses of biodiversity in many marine habitats and ecosystems, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and its partners.<\/p>\n
The new work is some of the first to investigate the likely effects of ocean acidification on whole ecosystems<\/a>, rather than just on individual species (corals, kelps, seagrasses, phytoplankton, etc).<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNot too surprisingly, species diversity in calcium carbonate-based habitats like coral reefs and mussel beds were projected to decline with increased ocean acidification,\u201d stated UBC zoologist and biodiversity researcher Jennifer Sunday.<\/p>\n Ocean acidification (which is actually a move towards neutral pH, from slightly basic pH) will of course result in the disappearance of a great many of the lifeforms living in the world’s oceans that rely on waters saturated with calcium carbonate for the maintenance and construction of their: bodies, shells, colonies\/skeletons, etc. these animals include: corals, mussels, oysters, crabs, lobsters, and various plankton<\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n Sunday continued: \u201cThe more complex responses are those of seagrass beds that are vital to many fisheries species. These showed the potential to increase the number of species they can support, but the real-world evidence so far shows that they\u2019re not reaching this potential. This highlights a need to focus not only on individual species, but on how the supportive habitat that sets nature\u2019s stage responds and interacts to climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n