login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Coral Ecosystems may Vanish by 2010 Warn Scientists
According to a report in New Scientist, an exploration of natural "bubble streams" of carbon dioxide (CO2) in shallow Mediterranean waters off the coast of Italy is the first to document the effects of ocean acidification in a real ocean setting.
It is well understood that oceans will become more acidic as CO2 concentrations rise is well understood. By the year 2100, ocean acidity is predicted to be 7.8 pH, compared to 8.2 pH in 1900.
But all the studies of how this will affect marine ecosystems have been carried out in laboratories, many involving organisms with shells being placed in low-pH seawater and watching them slowly dissolve.
The experiments give little indication of the degree to which this would happen in the open oceans, affected by currents and the population dynamics which regulate ecosystems.
Now, Jason Hall-Spencer and colleagues at the University of Plymouth, UK, have looked at just this process. They found a site off the island of Ischia in southern Italy where geologic CO2 naturally seeps through the seafloor.
The Ischia site offers an usual opportunity to study cool, acidified ecosystems that are not modified by the toxic effects of sulphur.
|
|
|
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Report: A Lot of Americans Have No Access to Health Care |
| » | Greece Faces Humanitarian Crisis as Health Care Access Declines in EU, Doctors Group Warns |
| » | HCCI Report Says Rising Prices for Care Responsible for Increased Healthcare Costs for Privately Insured Americans |
| » | Treatment in ED is Based on Children's Insurance Status |
| » | US Spends Most on Healthcare Without Providing Superior Care |
| More Insurance News | |
|
