November 24, 2010
By Stephen Ornes
Just by watching waves roll on to the beach doesn’t help to see how the water changes much. But from the experiments made are showing that our waters are becoming acidic. And this process is called “acidification”. And it may mean bad news for animals like the Elkhorn coral, which is found throughout the Caribbean Sea. Elkhorn coral used to be easy to find in shallow water, but now it’s an endangered species. In the last 30 years, many populations of Elkhorn coral have collapsed, thanks to disease outbreaks, hurricanes and elevated temperatures. Scientists are working on saving these corals but they are not even close to being done. In more acidic waters, Elkhorn coral are less successful at reproducing sexually. Acidification happens because oceans absorb a gas called carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and carbon dioxide makes the water more acidic. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere comes from many sources, and human activities have added a significant amount. When we burn oil or gas to generate power (such as electricity or to fuel cars), we add CO2 to the air” say the scientists. I think this is another thing that we should really deeply badly think about.
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