Increasing CO2's impact on water eco-systems
Team C005858 lives in the Chesapeake Bay watershed of the United States. This 145-mile
waterway is very shallow.
Thus, the waters are very sensitive to temperature change and to changes in the sunlight
passing through the water.
Many fish and other marine animals breed and reproduce in these shallow waterways.
Violent weather and storms affect circulation and salinity (how salty the water is), which
affects the nutrients available for feeding and the types of living organisms.
The cooler the water is, the higher the oxygen that can remain dissolved. On the other
hand the plants that photosynthesize affect the amount of oxygen in the water. Likewise,
carbon dioxide necessary for photosynthesis is higher in cooler waters. Thus, unlike the
air, global warming reduces dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in the water for the
eco-system.
Another distinction, in the arguments for the merits of land-based increases in
atmospheric carbon dioxide based on increased crop yield, is the fact that, unlike
land plants, water algal plants float on the surface, blocking sunlight from passing
through to the bottom. This blocks the sunlight needed for phytoplankton.
As we have shown in the hydrogen section, bacteria use sunlight
in the decay process. Not only that, jellyfish eat the bacteria. Thus, we have several
food chain eco-system elements affected by increased algal growth, unlike land-based
eco-system impacts. Biodiversity (the number of differing types of living organisms)
decreases in the water eco-system with increasing CO2, given temperature
increase (the physics).
Coral reefs
The water readily absorbs CO2. This causes the water to become acidic.
This acid eats away at the calcium carbonate that makes up the reef. Thus, increasing
carbon dioxide concentrations are changing the chemistry of the oceans. Soon (if
the increase continues), a whole eco-system will be destroyed.
Coral reefs support 93,000 species of fish in 100 countries. 1/3 of the reefs in the world
died in 1998 due to warm temperatures attributed to global warming. These reefs provide
pharmaceuticals and medicine. While there has been some recovery, it is believed that
increased global warming will take its toll in the future.
A story running in the BBC News on showed pictures of the beautiful Florida coral reefs.
It reported that as global warming continues, these reefs would disappear.
Salmon and fisheries moving
James Baker, NOAA administrator, reported that the following global warming
effects below (which we present in earlier policy topic tabs, so hyperlinked below)
is causing salmon and other fisheries to move:
