BIOC63H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Calcification, Calcite, Ocean Acidification
18 Nov 2013
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Bioc63fall2013 lecture 12 notes: threats to biodiversity oceans. Coral reefs are like the rainforests of oceans. 1% of sea surface area 25% of marine biodiversity food basis for diverse coral reef community they also provide habitat for a number of marine organisms skeleton made of calcite (caco3) 20% coccolithophors have shells made up of calcite. 30% others they are tiny but you can photograph from space because they are in big groups (milky blueish white in picture) Mollusks shells made up or aragonite (still caco3, but different molecular structure) Man-made acidification of oceans smaller graph at the top right carbon dioxide concentration in atmosphere increases in the shape of a hockey stick towards the 2000s. Underneath red line = no coral building, and the corals that are there will start to dissolute red line = optimal conditions above red line = calcification can build hard corals. 22 and 41% bleached in north america. El nino events everything gets really hot.
