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Seminar
Department of Earth Science

Are Coral Reefs The Litmus Test For Ocean Acidification?

by Joanie Kleypas
from National Center for Atmospheric Research
when Thursday, April 19, 2007
Time: 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
where 131 Anderson Biological Laboratories 
Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, USA
abstract Ocean acidification is gaining recognition as an important environmental problem caused by fossil fuel burning. Oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2 across the air-sea interface is changing the carbonate system in seawater to an unprecedented state. The main consequences are a lowering of both pH and carbonate ion concentration, and a lowering of the saturation states of the minerals calcite and aragonite (CaCO3), the main skeleton-forming minerals for many marine organisms. One of the demonstrated biological consequences of ocean acidification is a reduction in calcification rates of corals and other reef-building organisms. If laboratory experiments prove to be representative of corals in the field, then coral growth rates are likely to decrease in the future. Whether reduced calcification rates will affect the fitness of corals remains essentially unknown, but there is little doubt that the carbonate budgets on coral reefs will decline. This talk will outline the current state of knowledge as to what ocean acidification means for coral reef ecosystems, and will examine both modern-day analogs and geological record for clues as to whether coral reefs and the structures they build will constitute a measurable litmus test for ocean acidification.





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