Ocean Acidification Causing Pacific Oyster Die Off

Thinkstock
View Caption +
To wind down the year, we pooled our favorite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), showing off 12 shots of raging seas, marine life and other surprising underwater finds.


View Related Gallery »

Gallery

12 Days of the Ocean: Photos

To wind down the year, we pooled our favorite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), showing off 12 shots of raging seas, marine life and other surprising underwater finds. On the first day of the ocean, it was too choppy to dive but made for a striking image. NEWS: Oceans May Hold 250,000 Tons Of Trash

NOAA Okeanos Explorer program

View Caption +

A dumbo octopus was seen during an exploration of the Atlantis II Seamount Complex by the Okeanos Explorer . BLOG: How The Atlantic Ocean Could Disappear

NOAA Okeanos Explorer program

View Caption +

A remotely operated robotic vehicle, the Deep Discoverer, captured this pompom anemone. VIDEO: What Do Our Oceans Reveal About Global Warming?

NOAA Okeanos Explorer program

View Caption + #4: A Southern sea otter,

Enhydra lutris nereis , floated along in South Harbor, Moss Landing, Calif. VIDEO: Should We Close The Ocean To Save Fish?

NOAAWorld Ocean Day Photo Contest Submission by Dr. Steve Lonhart.

View Caption +

Residents of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument explore a small part of its 140,000 square miles of ocean and coral reef habitat. VIDEO: How Much Trash Is In The Ocean?

NOAA

View Caption + #6: A sharknose goby (

Elacatinus evelynae ) swims across brain coral in the U.S. Virgin Islands. VIDEO: Giant Squid: King Of The Ocean

NOAA

View Caption +

A manta ray passes over a reef, inviting a host of small fish to clean parasites and other debris off of its skin. BLOG: Acidifying Ocean Could Lead To Marine Extinctions

NOAA

View Caption +

A group of elephant seals sleep in the sun around a sand dune at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of California. NEWS: Will Jellyfish Rule The Ocean?

Robert Schwemmer, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

View Caption +

A mom and baby elephant seal roll around on the beach in Ano Nuevo Island, Calif. PHOTOS: Small World Under The Sea

NOAA

View Caption +

A humpback whale breaches in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of California. PHOTOS: Tiny People Swim With The Fishes

Robert Schwemmer, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

View Caption +

Super Typhoon Hagupit grew as it approached the east central Philippines. PHOTOS: Life in a Drop of Water

NOAA/NASA

View Caption +

An underwater nursery lets corals recover after traumatic events, such as a ship grounding. Hung on a tree structure, with care, the staghorn coral shown here will have a better chance of surviving and being transplanted back onto a reef. BLOG: Best Map Of Ocean Currents Created From Space

NOAA

As CO2 levels increase in the atmosphere, near-shore waters are becoming more acidic, which can hurt the shell strength of marine organisms. The early stages of shell growth are sensitive to increasingly corrosive seawater, reports a new study, and it's causing commercial oyster operations in the Pacific Northwest to fail.

Young oysters begin shell building very quickly, so that within 48 hours they can begin feeding. The researchers found that oysters can start building calcium carbonate shells within 12 hours after fertilization, when they're just 1/100th the diameter of a human hair.

But in acidic water, the oysters need to exert more energy for shell building and have less for swimming and getting food, the researchers say.

"The hatcheries call it 'lazy larvae syndrome' because these tiny oysters just sink in the water and stop swimming," said George Waldbusser of Oregon State, the lead author of the paper.

A very small change in ocean chemistry leads to oysters that can't grow shells properly, the researchers said.

"These organisms have really sensitive windows to ocean acidification -- even more sensitive than we thought," Waldbusser said.

The findings were reported this week in the journal Nature Climate Change.

0 Response to "Ocean Acidification Causing Pacific Oyster Die Off"

Post a Comment

Iklan Atas Artikel

Iklan Tengah Artikel 1

Iklan Tengah Artikel 2

Iklan Bawah Artikel