Why is Ocean acidification bad for the Environment?
As shown in the link from antarctic ice, the main danger from ocean acidification is that carbonate will become undersaturated in the water. The take away message from this is that organisms that require a calcium carbonate shell/skeleton may find it more difficult to make their shells, and so they may not survive as well. Since many of these creatures act as food for many larger animals, larger animals may suffer as well. It doesn’t itself add to global warming, but it could have some indirect effects. Plankton, for instance, work to store a lot of carbon on the ocean floor by living on the surface, and then dying and sinking to the bottom. It’s possible that if plankton populations decline, then this important process of carbon storing may also decline, leading to more CO2 in the atmosphere.
