Summary
11 March 2009
Mankind is changing the chemistry of the oceans and may be causing the decline of sea life. Experts say the ocean is more acidic now than it has been at any time in the past half-million years.
Reporter:
Roger Harrabin
Sea fan
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Report
Carbon dioxide is an acidic gas and scientists say as it dissolves into the sea it's making seawater more acidic. They calculate that ocean acidity is up 30% since the Industrial Revolution. A new study shows the growth of some tiny shell forming creatures appears already to have been stunted by the change.
Research of this new branch of science suggests that as CO2 emissions continue to increase, many shell forming species may not survive the next 50 - 100 years. This would hit commercial fisheries and start to unpick the very web of life in the seas.
Dr Carol Turley, who is running today's acidification debate in Copenhagen, fears a mass extinction: ''55 million years ago there was a big production of CO2. That resulted in the mass extinction of seabed dwelling shell forming organisms. What we鈥檙e doing now is far, far faster, so it may not be possible for organisms to adapt.''
Sceptics say we can't be sure how ocean chemistry will respond in the future and whether creatures will adapt. The scientists in Denmark say we simply shouldn鈥檛 take the risk.
Roger Harrabin, 大象传媒 News
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Vocabulary
- shell forming creatures
- animals which make their own protective coverings often called 'shells'
- stunted
- stopped from growing or developing to full potential
- species
- group of animals or plants which have similar characteristics
- hit commercial fisheries
- have a negative effect on the fishing industry
- to unpick the very web
- to destroy the delicate balance
- acidification debate
- discussion on the environmental issues caused by acid and pollution
- mass extinction
- a large number of animals and sea life will no longer exist
- seabed dwelling
- animals or creatures who live at the bottom of the ocean
- organisms
- very small single living plants or animals (we often use this word when talking about extremely small forms of life e.g. amoebae and bacteria are single-celled organisms)
- sceptics
- people who doubt, who don't believe
