Ease into Climate Change Instruction through Ocean Acidification

Authors

David C. Owens, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow
Susanne Rafolt, University of InnsbruckFollow
Erin M. Arneson, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2021

Publication Title

The American Biology Teacher

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2021.83.4.247

ISSN

1938-4211

Abstract

Although climate change garners the bulk of headlines, ocean acidification is an equally important issue that also results from our increasing consumption of fossil fuels. As atmospheric CO₂ dissolves into the ocean, the ocean’s pH decreases, making it increasingly difficult for organisms that build calcium carbonate skeletons to grow and thrive. Given that these marine calcifiers – such as corals, snails, shellfish, crustaceans, and plankton – often form the base of oceanic food webs and are habitat and food resources for larger oceanic plants and animals (including humans), ocean acidification poses a serious threat. In this article, we present a series of investigations that provide evidence that increases in anthropogenic sources of CO₂ contribute to the acidification of the ocean, and that an increasingly acidic ocean can negatively impact marine calcifiers.

Comments

© Copyright 2021 University Of California Press

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Recommended Citation

Owens, David C., Susanne Rafolt, Erin M. Arneson. 2021. "Ease into Climate Change Instruction through Ocean Acidification." The American Biology Teacher, 83 (4): 247-253: University of California Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2021.83.4.247 source: https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/83/4/247/116741/Ease-into-Climate-Change-Instruction-through-Ocean
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/teach-secondary-facpubs/146