Nature - Acidic Seawater (@ 600, 1,000 PPM Equivalent) = Organ Deformity, Death In Embryonic Fish

[hatrack]

EDIT

Christopher Gobler, a marine biologist at Stony Brook University in New York, decided to test the effects of rising CO2 levels on the growth and survival of Menidia beryllina, a common schooling fish found in estuaries along the North American coast. He and his colleagues placed the fish embryos into CO2 concentrations comparable to current levels in the seas (about 400 p.p.m.), those expected by mid-century (about 600 p.p.m.) and at levels projected for the end of the century (about 1,000 p.p.m.)1. “Right away, we saw results,” says Gobler. “Survival rates were cut in half or worse with high concentrations of CO2.” When CO2 concentrations reached 1,000 p.p.m., one-week survival rates dropped by 74%.

The other study2, led by Andrea Frommel, a fisheries biologist at the Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, looked at the effects of acidification on the larvae of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) over a two-and-a-half month period. The team reared the fish larvae under three conditions: present day ( about 380 p.p.m.), year 2200 (about 1,800 p.p.m.) and an extreme coastal upwelling scenario (about 4,200 p.p.m), where winds bring large amount of CO2-rich deep water to the surface. As CO2 levels increased, the cod larvae fared less well, developing severe damage to their liver, pancreas, kidney, eye and gut about a month after hatching.

“We’ve always said fish are such good acid–base regulators that they won’t be affected by increasing ocean acidification. But what we found was that the larvae, which haven’t developed these mechanisms yet, are more vulnerable to CO2 than we thought,” says Frommel. The organ damage was serious enough that it could have lowered the cod’s chance of survival, she said.

“These two studies are part of a growing trend that realizes that the broader effects of ocean acidification are much more than just calcification,” says Donald Potts, a coral-reef biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

EDIT

http://www.nature.com/news/acidic-oceans-threaten-fish-1.9607

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Oops

Sigh.

[Bob Wallace]

2. I'm reluctant to make this post...

because I'm afraid someone will think I'm trying to minimize the problem of increasing acidification, but here goes...

The study is flawed. It uses an abrupt change in pH. What is going to (likely) happen is a rapid but not instantaneous change.

The study found survivors. Does that mean that there is genetic stock which over a few generations might allow species adaptation? If they lowered the pH a lesser amount and bred the survivors, then lowered the pH again, bred the survivors, etc. would they end up with cod that can tolerate "our new oceans"?

We're seeing birds change size as temperatures change.

[XemaSab]

3. Thoughtful discussion is never unwelcome

By the way, welcome to E/E!

[kristopher]

4. That is certainly a line of inquiry worth investigating.

However, a previous event (Permian Extinction) related to elevated CO2 levels on that scale drove 75% of ocean species and 90+% of terrestrial critters into extinction. The ocean event was particularly rapid because at a certain point the methane clathrates thawed and poisoned the water with massive quantities of methane.

To quote Muhammad Ali, "If the right one don't get you, the left one will".

[Bob Wallace]

6. I've got a feeling...

That if we kick massive quantities of methane loose, eating cod will not be an issue for us.

[GliderGuider]

7. Why not make the same point about land mammals and rising atmospheric CO2 levels?

There will always be survivors who may propagate a version of the species that is better adapted to high CO2 levels - including man. Why should we do anything?

"What me worry?"

[Bob Wallace]

8. Where did you get the idea...

That the message in my post was to do nothing?

[GliderGuider]

10. I don't know if that's your position...

After all I just met you a week ago.

There is a school of thought that says, "Life always finds a way", and points to the recoveries following things like the P-Tr event and the Toba bottleneck as proof.

Since Nature is amoral and we are as much a part of nature as mollusks and dinosaurs, why should morality factor into our relationship with nature (at least the non-human bits of it)? This seems to be the default world-view of modern industrial/technological civilization. Environmentalists tend to disagree, but that objection is quite anthropomorphic, with little connection to the utilitarian nature of the processes at work in the natural world.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Acid test points to coming fish troubles

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336901/title/Acid_test_points_to_coming_fish_troubles

[font size="5"]Acid test points to coming fish troubles[/font]
[font size="4"]Young fish can suffer severe damage from the ocean acidification expected within this century[/font]

By Janet Raloff

The increasing acidification of ocean water may seriously jeopardize survival in young fish, two new studies find. Until now, studies of acidification’s effects on fish focused on adults — and found little evidence of life-threatening harm.

Seawater absorbs carbon dioxide from the air; the more CO[small]₂[/small] absorbed, the more the pH drops, tipping the oceans’ waters toward the acidic end of the scale (SN: 3/15/2008, p. 170 – http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/9479/title/The_Next_Ocean ). So, forecasted increases in atmospheric CO[small]₂[/small] concentration will hasten ocean acidification.

In both new studies, survival of young fish diminished as seawater’s CO[small]₂[/small] concentration rose to levels scientists expect to see between 2050 and 2100. Already, however, fish in certain regions periodically encounter such acidification.

Both studies appear online December 11 in Nature Climate Change.

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