1. Ocean Acidification: the
Process, the Future, and
the Past
Mieke Vrijmoet
Communicating Science to the Public
Nov 5 2013

2. The Mechanism
Image courtesy NOAA,
Monteray Bay National Marine
Sanctuary

3. -
Why does a change in CO3 matter?
Image courtesy US EPA

4. Coral Reefs and Ocean Acidification
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

5. Will this happen everywhere?
Image courtesy
Wikimedia commons
with data via GODAP
and Global Oceans Atlas

6. Paired with global warming….
● Changes to range,
community
composition, and
increased stress
● Possibility of coral
bleaching

7. So what does it mean for the future?

8. Wait… this has happened before?
Sharp decrease in calcium
carbonate shows major
decrease in calcifying organisms
Source: Zachos, Science, 2005

9. how do we know that?

10. Can we stop it?

11. Our future remains to
be seen!

12. Works Cited
Ford, Mary S. (Jesse). “A 10 000-Yr History of Natural Ecosystem Acidification.” Ecological Monographs 60.1 (1990): 57–89. JSTOR. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Goeij, Jasper M. de, and Fleur C. van Duyl. “Coral Cavities Are Sinks of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC).” Limnology and Oceanography 52.6 (2007): 2608–2617.
Print.
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. et al. “Coral Reefs Under Rapid Climate Change and Ocean Acidification.” Science 318.5857 (2007): 1737–1742. www.sciencemag.org. Web. 5
Nov. 2013.
Kiessling, Wolfgang, and Carl Simpson. “On the Potential for Ocean Acidification to Be a General Cause of Ancient Reef Crises.” Global Change Biology 17.1
(2011): 56–67. EBSCOhost. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Kroeker, Kristy J. et al. “Meta-analysis Reveals Negative yet Variable Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Organisms.” Ecology Letters 13.11 (2010): 1419–
1434. Wiley Online Library. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Lebrato, M. et al. “From the Arctic to the Antarctic: The Major, Minor, and Trace Elemental Composition of Echinoderm Skeletons: Ecological Archives E094-127.”
Ecology 94.6 (2013): 1434. Print.
Mcleod, Elizabeth et al. “Preparing to Manage Coral Reefs for Ocean Acidification: Lessons from Coral Bleaching.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11.1
(2012): 20–27. ESA Journals. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

13. Works Cited (continued)
Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P. et al. “Global Climate Change and Acidic Deposition.” Research Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation 63.4 (1991): 735–746.
Print.
Orr, James C. et al. “Anthropogenic Ocean Acidification over the Twenty-first Century and Its Impact on Calcifying Organisms.” Nature 437.7059 (2005): 681–686.
www.nature.com. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Pandolfi, John M. “The Paleoecology of Coral Reefs.” Coral Reefs: An Ecosystem in Transition. Ed. Zvy Dubinsky and Noga Stambler. Dordrecht: Springer
Netherlands, 2011. 13–24. CrossRef. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Ries, Justin B., Anne L. Cohen, and Daniel C. McCorkle. “Marine Calcifiers Exhibit Mixed Responses to CO2-induced Ocean Acidification.” Geology 37.12 (2009):
1131–1134. geology.gsapubs.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Wood, Hannah L., John I. Spicer, and Stephen Widdicombe. “Ocean Acidification May Increase Calcification Rates, but at a Cost.” Proceedings of the Royal Society
B: Biological Sciences 275.1644 (2008): 1767–1773. rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Zachos, James C. et al. “Rapid Acidification of the Ocean During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.” Science 308.5728 (2005): 1611–1615. www.
sciencemag.org. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.