On the basis that global warming would lead to more acidic seas due to greater absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans, researchers went to the Island of Ischia in Italy.
Here, carbon dioxide bubbles up through vents in the seabed due to volcanic activity around Mount Vesuvius in Naples.
The scientists from Britain, France, Italy, Monaco and Israel chose the site for their transplant experiments because the increased sea carbon dioxide levels represent the conditions which would arise from global warming.
From the UK were team co-ordinator Dr Jason Hall-Spencer, a reader in marine biology, and Dr Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, a postdoctoral research fellow, both from Plymouth University.
“Our transplant experiments with corals, limpets and commercially important mussels have shown the severe risks associated with increasing carbon dioxide emissions for marine life,” said Dr Rodolfo-Metalpa.
“These animals try to grow their shells and skeletons faster but they simply dissolve away.
“Mediterranean coastal ecosystems are being degraded by increasing temperatures and we now know that this warming can make the effects of ocean acidification worse.”
Dr Hall-Spencer said: “Carbon dioxide vents provide natural laboratories that show us what coastal areas might look like if ocean acidification continues to worsen.
“They also help us predict how people will be affected if carbon dioxide levels continue to rise rapidly. We see major losses in biodiversity, and the aquaculture industry is right to be nervous about the effects of carbon dioxide.
“This research adds to a raft of new studies that highlight an urgent need for both lowering carbon dioxide emissions and increasing marine conservation efforts worldwide to slow the loss of marine biodiversity and build resilience in the coastal systems we rely upon.”
The project paper, which assesses effects at organism, ecosystem and economic levels, is published in full by Nature Climate Change magazine this month.
It builds on work published previously by the team in Nature and National Geographic magazines.
The latest report comes against the background of a clear warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Its 4th Assessment Report has estimated that unless terrestrial carbon dioxide emissions are greatly reduced by the end of the century, the world’s surface ocean pH will decline from the current mean of 8.1 to 7.8.
This would occur due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and a subsequent increase in absorption of carbon dioxide by the sea.
Archive | 
Win a Luxfer pony cylinder
