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THE EFFECT OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ON PTEROPODS : TERM PAPER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY : Pteropod , a small sea snail that provides food for salmon , is suffering a great loss in its population in the Pacific Ocean due to the change in the pH of ocean water . It has evolved a major impact on the aquatic biodiversity as the secondary and tertiary consumers are suffering due to the loss in their food population .
INTRODUCTION : Global oceans have absorbed about a third of the anthropogenically released carbon dioxide . The accumulation of carbon dioxide in seawater has lowered average global ocean pH from 8.2 to 8.1 and decreased the concentration of carbonate ions . Changes in the carbonate ion concentration of ocean water can be affected by dissolving calcium carbonate structures which may directly affect the Mollusks shell by causing dissolution . Some pteropods lack shells as adults but are narrow-spectrum predators that rely on shelled pteropods as their primary or exclusive prey . The entire group is therefore potentially threatened by increasing ocean acidification , which in Pacific is now approaching the solubility threshold . Despite the grounds for ecological concern , there are few long-term time-series of pteropod populations .
FINDINGS : Pteropods , which provide food for salmon , herring , and other fish , are being eaten away by the Pacific Ocean . For the first time , scientists documented that souring seas caused by carbon-dioxide emissions were dissolving pteropods in the wild right now along the U . S . West Coast . That incident was damaging a potentially important link in the marine food web far sooner than expected .
DISCUSSIONS : A 2014 study published in the journal “ Proceedings of the Royal Society B ” found that in certain areas off the West Coast or Pacific Coast , the water has become corrosive to pteropod shells . As a consequence , the dissolution of the shell of younger pteropod could be noticed . “ By 2100 , 50 % of the oceans would no longer be viable for pteropods ”, Dr . Richard Freely , the study ’ s co-author , told Vice . Distributional studies in the eastern tropical Pacific region examined the patterns of Pteropod in association with variations in oxygen concentration , temperature , depth , and pH at two sites in the eastern tropical Pacific during 2007 and 2008 . There were three distinct patterns of pteropod distribution , each with differing exposure to temperature , oxygen , and carbon dioxide . The experiment showed that the pteropods which are naturally exposed to a high level of carbon dioxide in oxygen minimum zones are not affected by hypercapnia ( condition of abnormally elevated carbon dioxide levels in the blood ), whereas those never experience elevated carbon dioxide levels respond with a reduction in oxygen consumption .
CONCLUSION : Of the oceanic zooplankton species , pteropods are thought to be some of the most sensitive to acidification . The responses in the face of short-term carbon dioxide exposure and low oxygen reveal interesting patterns about basic scale differences in sensitivity , possibly associated with adaptation to local environmental conditions . The results indicate that short-term exposure to high carbon dioxide does not affect the respiration rate of multiple species of temperate and subpolar pteropod species from both the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans , irrespective of recent likely environmental exposure . Many other standards are more consistently affected . As such , pteropods may have physiological coping mechanisms that allow them to maintain their energy budget for short periods in the face of high carbon dioxide via the reallocation of their energetic resources . Over longer periods , however , this could reduce their scope for growth and reproduction , negatively impacting the fitness of the population as has been demonstrated with other marine calcifiers ( i . e ., Stumpp et al ., 2011 ; Dupont et al ., 2013 ; Melzner et al ., 2013 ).
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