Ocean Acidification Dissolving Shells of Sea Creatures Causing Disaster in Food Chain

A new research in the fourth week of November 2012 found that the sea snails’ shells are dissolved due to global warming, which is leaving them defenceless against their predators. The research found that the waters around Antarctica have become acidic because of the rising carbon dioxide levels. The rising carbon dioxide levels were corroding protective layer or shells of the swimming snails.

This situation was even worse in Polar Regions since the gas becomes soluble in the cold water. Scientists predicted that average acidity of these oceans will be triple all over the world and this will be the first time in around 20 million years.
In the research, scientists checked the shells which were collected from molluscs from Southern Ocean surface, with the help of microscope. They found that the ones from acidic regions had their shells dissolved across the whole length. What caused this was the fact that deep water which was already rich in carbon dioxide was mixed with the surface that was affected by the greenhouse gas.

 British Antarctic Survey revealed that the effect of ocean acidification was happening in the oceanic populace already. Decline in the pteropod populations might occur much sooner than the projected date in Southern Ocean surface waters. Destruction of this crucial group of mollusks called pteropods could lead to disaster in the food chain.

Even if pteropods are smaller in size but they are still important sources of food for the predators at various tiers of food chain which include herring, salmon, zooplankton, sea birds as well as whales. Without their shells, pteropods will become defenceless against predation leading to decrease in their population.
Lab tests suggested that the shell molluscs also include conchs, whelks and clams which are also at higher risk level. Ocean acidification would impair the ability of clams, urchins, corals as well as calcareous algae for building their protective shells.

What is ocean acidification?

Ocean acidification is one of the biggest carbon dioxide challenges. It means that the pH level of the oceans on earth’s surface has decreased because of an increase in the carbon dioxide level in atmosphere. Ocean acidification is taking place rapidly, posing a serious threat to marine life as well as biodiversity.