Shells+and+carbon+dixoide+levels

Tyler Lovell Shawnee Mason Joshua Gosselin Corey Holman

Final Grade- Organization 3 /5 Your page still looks like a bunch of information pasted together. Climate change explanation 7 /10 Still a weak explanation of this, ex. ozone has nothing to do with it! Oceanography explanation 7 /15 You did not upgrade the explanation of chemistry that we talked about it class! The first description paragraph is still pretty much taken directly from the website, you really only changed a few words here and there. The idea is that you should read it and then type out what it says on your own, not cut and paste and change a few words to make it look different. Diagram/connection to text 7 /10 You fixed some but the last one is explained poorly/incorrectly! Overall- 21/40 We are researching on the relationship of Shell building organisms and CO2 levels in the atmosphere. We found that the CO2 level is increasing which is causing it to increase in the oceans.This is causing the Shell building organims to decrese which would effect the corals and sea animals that eat off them. We found the relationship of climate change and the relationship to oceanography. We also found pictures to show the CO2 Levels and the decreasing of the PH levels in the ocean.  The PH level is decreasing because of the acid that is being entered into the water from the raising CO2 levels in the atmosphere. And this is showing how it was high and it keeps getting lower. We can see the predicted amount of PH level in 2100.

Description/ Explanation:  The material that makes up shells is aragonite, which is a mineral form of calcium carbonate, which is also generated by other marine organisms to form external skeletal material. These organisms are different types of stony corals that grow through the cold and dark places of the ocean. These cold water corals grow very slowly and can live to be hundreds of years old. Studies have already shown that ocean acidification will make tropical corals less able to build skeletal material, even before waters become corrosive. Although it is still the cold water corals that will be affected by the corrosive waters. These calcium carbonate skeletons are essential not only for their survival, but also for providing the habitats for many types of marine life. Such as deep sea fish, eels, crabs, and sea urchins. Shell building organisms are a major food source, they also create coral reefs. So they provide protection and food. The CO2 levels in the atmosphere are needed for photosynthesis in plants and greenhouse gases. The relationship of these are that the CO2 levels are getting very high and going into the ocean, which the Shell building organisms can dissolve in the corrosive acid waters. This would cause the decrease of fish and corals. In this diagram below shows that the aragonite is decreasing which would mean the shell building oganisms are being decreased. You can see in the future it keeps getting lower and lower because the CO2 levels in the atmosphere keep getting worse.



Relating to climate change/oceanpgraphy: When the climate gets warmer it results to ozone loss, which as a result of upwelling and ventilation of deeper, carbon rich water. Which would be adding a lot of carons into the water and ending up with a result as decreasing the amount of shell building organisms. The climate change also effects the releasing of the CO2. When its warmer the CO2 will be released into the liquids.The Oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994 according to a report published last year by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NOAA, resulting in increased ocean acidity, which reduces the availability of carbonate ions needed for the production of calcium carbonate structures. In the past, changes in ocean acidity have triggered mass extinction events. According to a study published in the September issue of Geology, dramatically warmer and more acidic oceans may have contributed to the worst mass extinction on record, the Permian extinction. During the extinction event, which occurred some 250 million years ago, about 95% of ocean's life forms became extinct. The same fate could befall modern day marine life. The ocean absorbs the CO2 from the atmosphere which causes it to decrease as the oceans temperatures rise. But the climate change is effecting that. So the CO2 that dissolves into the water isnt decreasing which is hurting the availability of carbonates for the shell building organsims to form.

As you can see we are ruining the oceans and by the year 3000 the oceans depth will decrease dramatically. This graph is used to represent the acidity in the oceans.


 * ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_the_Earth%27s_atmosphere****
 * http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/06/MNGSPJQ8221.DTL**
 * http://books.google.com/books?id=mNoW858izZcC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=shell+building+organisms+the+effect+of+climate+change&source=web&ots=H4B198MHky&sig=d-3iVRfpMPy-W47vl-biUkYJHn4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA81,M1
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide#In_the_oceans