Ocean Acidification Threatens Widespread Extinctions, Study Warns

Human-caused carbon emissions are creating “dangerous” levels of acidification in the world’s oceans and could result in widespread extinctions, according to a new study. Bristol University scientists said carbon emissions have turned oceans into acid at a rate comparable with an enormous release of greenhouse gas that killed off deep-water species during prehistoric times. Given the current rates, the scientists noted, “one must conclude that a similar level of extinction is more likely than not in the future.” The scientists predict that acid levels pose danger for marine calcifiers, organisms whose secretions create calcium carbonate skeletal structures, such as coral reefs. “We find the future rate of surface ocean acidification and environmental pressure on marine calcifiers very likely unprecedented in the past 65 millions years,” the report says. The study was scheduled to be introduced at a three-day summit of climate scientists that began Tuesday in Copenhagen, but the Guardian website published details in advance of the conference.