PERU fishing with guts to report…
The world's oceans are becoming more acidic due to rising levels of carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere and transferred to marine ecosystems.
And scientists have discovered that the oceans may be acidifying faster today than in the past 300 million years.
To address concerns about ocean acidification, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded new grants totaling USD 11.4 million through its program of ocean acidification. The awards are endorsed by the Board for Geosciences and Biological Sciences NSF.
From the tropical oceans to the frozen seas, funded projects encourage research into the nature, extent and impact of ocean acidification on marine organisms and their environments.
“The program of ocean acidification NSF has had a wonderful success”Says David Garrison, program director in the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF.
“We are seeing great results from the previous funding, and we expect the new group of grantees develop an equally productive research.”
Scientists have determined that ocean acidification affects marine ecosystems, the life histories of organisms, ocean food webs and biogeochemical cycles.
Researchers believe that one needs to understand the chemistry of ocean acidification and its interaction with marine biochemical and physiological processes before Earth's seas become inhospitable to life as we know it today.
Animal species from pteropods -delicados stray butterflies-up similar to planktonic hard corals are affected by ocean acidification. Also invisible microbes that fuel ocean productivity and influence the chemical functioning of ocean waters.
As the oceans become more acidic, the molecular balance necessary for organisms with shells manufacture their shells and skeletons is altered.
May be affected the physiology of many marine species, from microbes to fish. A myriad of chemical and reactions cycles are influenced by the pH (acidity level) of the oceans.
“Acidification of the oceans is an underrated aspect of climate change, affecting the ecology of organisms and creates new evolutionary pressures”Says George Gilchrist, program director in the Division of Environmental Biology at NSF.
“Integrated these eco-evolutionary nature studies provide new insights into how changes in ocean chemistry remodel populations and communities of marine organisms.”
Recipients of the grants program of the NSF Ocean acidification will try to answer questions such as: Will it increase acidification due to regional differences in marine chemistry and physics? ¿Complex interactions will arise, waterfalls and bottlenecks as the oceans acidify, and what are the environmental implications? And if current trends continue, what are the implications of the changes will be?
“This research on the physiological and metabolic organisms to ocean acidification responses is essential to our understanding of how these environmental changes affect the structure and function of sensitive ecosystems worldwide”Says Irwin Forseth, Division of Systems Integrators Organizations NSF.
The grants are part of the Initiative for Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) NSF.
SOURCE: Fis.com
This news is very interesting if I would like to know how and where they will take so much money for such research.