Juvenile Limacina helicina collected beneath sea ice in the Greenland Sea in 2012 exhibiting localized damage (dissolution) of the shell.
Adult Limacina helicina from the Greenland Sea.
In order to assess the impact of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) on the oceans today we are investigating the effect of decreasing upper ocean pH on calcifying zooplankton. Pteropods, pelagic molluscs often referred to as “sea butterflies”, are widely considered to be a sentinel species of ocean acidification on account of their delicate aragonite shell. At high latitudes, the cold surface ocean absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere, making polar pteropods particularly susceptible to low pH conditions. Together with the Ecosystem team we are studying the health and shell condition of pteropods in the Arctic and Subantarctic to assess their ability to tolerate and/or adapt to future CO2 levels.
For further information, please refer to the NERC Sea Surface Consortium UK Ocean Acidification website: www.surfaceoa.org.uk.
A new study of tiny marine snails called sea butterflies shows the great lengths these animals go to repair damage caused by ocean acidification. The paper, led by researchers at …
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