eKos: Acidifying Oceans Endanger Web of Life

by FishOutofWater

Oceans acidifying at the highest rate since the last great mass extinction 65 million years ago, threaten marine life, coral reefs and nutrition for over a billion people according to a report (PDF)just released by the UN. Fossil fuel burning, cement production, deforestation and land use changes have increased atmospheric CO2 from 280 to 390 PPMs. Increasing atmospheric CO2 has dissolved in the oceans, increasing the acidity (decreasing the pH) by 30%. Increasing acidity is destabilizing shells and corals, threatening the web of life in the ocean.

Recent studies of a Mediterranean vent in shallow waters revealed key ecosystem changes in high CO2 areas compared to normal CO2 areas. Certain algae and seagrasses were found to grow more efficiently closer to the vents where there was also a large reduction in biodiversity, notably a loss of calcifying organisms adjacent to the vents where the pH was lowest.

continued at Daily Kos....

A More Ancient World: Great Barrier Reef Part 2

by matching mole

Welcome back to the world of biodiversity.  Tonight we will pick up where we left off two weeks ago - taking a brief tour of the Great Barrier Reef.  Last time we talked a bit about the ecology of the reef and about some of the fishes that live there.

Here's the reef at the surface reminding us of how vast it is.

continued at Daily Kos....

Science Says: Those 3-D Underwater Oil Plumes Belong to BP

by jamess

Now for a little exercise in News Spin Cycles, vs the Scientific Process ...

When the Facts, finally come in, IS Anyone even still Paying Attention?

"What we have learned completely changes the idea of what an oil spill is," said chemical oceanographer David Hollander, one of three USF researchers credited with the matching samples of oil taken from the water with samples from the BP well. "It has gone from a two-dimensional disaster to a three-dimensional catastrophe."
[...]

Together, the two studies confirm what in the early days of the spill was denied by BP and viewed skeptically by NOAA's chief — that much of the crude that gushed from the Deepwater Horizon well stayed beneath the surface of the water.

[link to follow]

continued at Daily Kos...

The Florida Coral Reefs may be Next ...

by jamess

If BP, along with the 'Best and the Brightest' can't manage to turn off the spigot ... The Florida Coral Reefs may be Next Group Records Florida Coastal Environment Before Oil Arrives Creighton Team Helps Oil Spill Study MSNBC June 3, 2010 A research team from Creighton University is gathering data along Florida's Gulf Coast and trying to stay ahead of the oil spill. The team's leader, John Schalles, said recovery crews aren't the only ones scrambling against the resulting environmental disaster. Creighton Professor John Schalles on the Oil Spill http://www.youtube.com/...

continued at Daily Kos....