Environmental Science · Literature

Research papers on Ocean acidification

Recent and highly-cited academic work on ocean acidification, gathered from Semantic Scholar, CrossRef and OpenAlex.

1. Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes

   Victoria J. Fabry, Brad A. Seibel, Richard A. Feely, et al. · 2008 · ICES Journal of Marine Science · 2,038 citations

   Abstract Fabry, V. J., Seibel, B. A., Feely, R. A., and Orr, J. C. 2008. Impacts of ocean acidification on marine fauna and ecosystem processes. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 414–432. Oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) is altering the seawater chemistry of the world’s oceans with consequences for marine biota. Elevated partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) is causing the calcium carbonate saturation horizon to shoal in many regions, particularly in high latitudes and regions that intersect with pronounced hypoxic zones. The ability of marine animals, most importantly pteropod molluscs, foraminifera, and some benthic invertebrates, to produce calcareous skeletal structures

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2. Ocean Acidification and Its Potential Effects on Marine Ecosystems

   John Guinotte, Victoria J. Fabry · 2008 · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 702 citations

   Ocean acidification is rapidly changing the carbonate system of the world oceans. Past mass extinction events have been linked to ocean acidification, and the current rate of change in seawater chemistry is unprecedented. Evidence suggests that these changes will have significant consequences for marine taxa, particularly those that build skeletons, shells, and tests of biogenic calcium carbonate. Potential changes in species distributions and abundances could propagate through multiple trophic levels of marine food webs, though research into the long-term ecosystem impacts of ocean acidification is in its infancy. This review attempts to provide a general synthesis of known and/or hypothesi

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3. The Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Ecosystems and Reliant Human Communities

   Scott C. Doney, D. Shallin Busch, Sarah R. Cooley, et al. · 2020 · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · 683 citations

   Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels, from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, along with agriculture and land-use practices are causing wholesale increases in seawater CO 2 and inorganic carbon levels; reductions in pH; and alterations in acid-base chemistry of estuarine, coastal, and surface open-ocean waters. On the basis of laboratory experiments and field studies of naturally elevated CO 2 marine environments, widespread biological impacts of human-driven ocean acidification have been posited, ranging from changes in organism physiology and population dynamics to altered communities and ecosystems. Acidification, in conjunction with other climate change–related environ

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4. The Effect of Ocean Acidification on Calcifying Organisms in Marine Ecosystems: An Organism-to-Ecosystem Perspective

   Gretchen E. Hofmann, James Barry, Peter J. Edmunds, et al. · 2010 · Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics · 534 citations

   Ocean acidification (OA), a consequence of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, poses a serious threat to marine organisms in tropical, open-ocean, coastal, deep-sea, and high-latitude sea ecosystems. The diversity of taxonomic groups that precipitate calcium carbonate from seawater are at particularly high risk. Here we review the rapidly expanding literature concerning the biological and ecological impacts of OA on calcification, using a cross-scale, process-oriented approach. In comparison to calcification, we find that areas such as fertilization, early life-history stages, and interaction with synergistic stressors are understudied. Although understanding the long-term consequences o

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5. Divergent ecosystem responses within a benthic marine community to ocean acidification

   Kristy J. Kroeker, Fiorenza Micheli, María Cristina Gambi, et al. · 2011 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 351 citations

   Ocean acidification is predicted to impact all areas of the oceans and affect a diversity of marine organisms. However, the diversity of responses among species prevents clear predictions about the impact of acidification at the ecosystem level. Here, we used shallow water CO(2) vents in the Mediterranean Sea as a model system to examine emergent ecosystem responses to ocean acidification in rocky reef communities. We assessed in situ benthic invertebrate communities in three distinct pH zones (ambient, low, and extreme low), which differed in both the mean and variability of seawater pH along a continuous gradient. We found fewer taxa, reduced taxonomic evenness, and lower biomass in the ex

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6. Hypoxia and acidification in ocean ecosystems: coupled dynamics and effects on marine life

   Christopher J. Gobler, Hannes Baumann · 2016 · Biology Letters · 351 citations

   There is increasing recognition that low dissolved oxygen (DO) and low pH conditions co-occur in many coastal and open ocean environments. Within temperate ecosystems, these conditions not only develop seasonally as temperatures rise and metabolic rates accelerate, but can also display strong diurnal variability, especially in shallow systems where photosynthetic rates ameliorate hypoxia and acidification by day. Despite the widespread, global co-occurrence of low pH and low DO and the likelihood that these conditions may negatively impact marine life, very few studies have actually assessed the extent to which the combination of both stressors elicits additive, synergistic or antagonistic e

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7. Reviews and Syntheses: Ocean acidification and its potential impacts on marine ecosystems

   Khan M. G. Mostofa, Cong‐Qiang Liu, Weidong Zhai, et al. · 2016 · Biogeosciences · 137 citations

   Abstract. Ocean acidification, a complex phenomenon that lowers seawater pH, is the net outcome of several contributions. They include the dissolution of increasing atmospheric CO2 that adds up with dissolved inorganic carbon (dissolved CO2, H2CO3, HCO3−, and CO32−) generated upon mineralization of primary producers (PP) and dissolved organic matter (DOM). The aquatic processes leading to inorganic carbon are substantially affected by increased DOM and nutrients via terrestrial runoff, acidic rainfall, increased PP and algal blooms, nitrification, denitrification, sulfate reduction, global warming (GW), and by atmospheric CO2 itself through enhanced photosynthesis. They are consecutively ass

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8. Effects of Ocean Acidification on Temperate Coastal Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries in the Northeast Pacific

   Rowan Haigh, D. Ianson, C. Holt, et al. · 2015 · PLoS ONE · 131 citations

   As the oceans absorb anthropogenic CO2 they become more acidic, a problem termed ocean acidification (OA). Since this increase in CO2 is occurring rapidly, OA may have profound implications for marine ecosystems. In the temperate northeast Pacific, fisheries play key economic and cultural roles and provide significant employment, especially in rural areas. In British Columbia (BC), sport (recreational) fishing generates more income than commercial fishing (including the expanding aquaculture industry). Salmon (fished recreationally and farmed) and Pacific Halibut are responsible for the majority of fishery-related income. This region naturally has relatively acidic (low pH) waters due to oce

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9. The Carbon Dioxide Vents of Ischia, Italy, A Natural System to Assess Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Ecosystems: An Overview of Research and Comparisons with Other Vent Systems

   S. Foo, M. Byrne, Elena Ricevuto, et al. · 2018 · Oceanography and Marine Biology · 90 citations

   As the ocean continues to take up carbon dioxide (CO2), it is difficult to predict the future of marine ecosystems. Natural CO2 vent sites, mainly of volcanic origin, that provide a pH gradient are useful as a proxy to investigate ecological effects of ocean acidification. The effects of decreased pH can be assessed at increasing levels of organisation, from the responses of individuals of a species up through populations and communities to whole ecosystems. As a natural laboratory, CO2 vent sites incorporate a range of environmental factors, such as gradients of nutrients, currents and species interactions that cannot be replicated in the laboratory or mesocosms, with the caveat that some v

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10. Ocean Futures Under Ocean Acidification, Marine Protection, and Changing Fishing Pressures Explored Using a Worldwide Suite of Ecosystem Models

    E. Olsen, I. Kaplan, C. Ainsworth, et al. · 2018 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 66 citations

    Ecosystem-based management (EBM) of the ocean considers all impacts on and uses of marine and coastal systems. In recent years, there has been a heightened interest in EBM tools that allow testing of alternative management options and help identify tradeoffs among human uses. End-to-end ecosystem modelling frameworks that consider a wide range of management options are a means to provide integrated solutions to the complex ocean management problems encountered in EBM. Here, we leverage the global advances in ecosystem modelling to explore common opportunities and challenges for ecosystem-based management, including changes in ocean acidification, spatial management, and fishing pressure acro

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11. The challenges of detecting and attributing ocean acidification impacts on marine ecosystems

    Steve S. Doo, Andrea K. Kealoha, Andreas J. Andersson, et al. · 2020 · ICES Journal of Marine Science · 65 citations

    Abstract A substantial body of research now exists demonstrating sensitivities of marine organisms to ocean acidification (OA) in laboratory settings. However, corresponding in situ observations of marine species or ecosystem changes that can be unequivocally attributed to anthropogenic OA are limited. Challenges remain in detecting and attributing OA effects in nature, in part because multiple environmental changes are co-occurring with OA, all of which have the potential to influence marine ecosystem responses. Furthermore, the change in ocean pH since the industrial revolution is small relative to the natural variability within many systems, making it difficult to detect, and in some case

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12. Hidden impacts of ocean warming and acidification on biological responses of marine animals revealed through meta-analysis

    K. Alter, J. Jacquemont, J. Claudet, et al. · 2024 · Nature Communications · 61 citations

    Conflicting results remain on the impacts of climate change on marine organisms, hindering our capacity to predict the future state of marine ecosystems. To account for species-specific responses and for the ambiguous relation of most metrics to fitness, we develop a meta-analytical approach based on the deviation of responses from reference values (absolute change) to complement meta-analyses of directional (relative) changes in responses. Using this approach, we evaluate responses of fish and invertebrates to warming and acidification. We find that climate drivers induce directional changes in calcification, survival, and metabolism, and significant deviations in twice as many biological r

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13. Effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems

    AF Vézina, Ove Hoegh‐Guldberg · 2008 · Marine Ecology Progress Series · 60 citations

    Although the potential for increased atmospheric CO 2 concentrations to affect ocean pH and marine calcification rates has been known for decades, the issue came to the fore following the Ocean in a High CO 2 World symposium (Orr et al. 2005a).Ocean acidification has recently been the subject of several high-profile publications (Caldeira & Wickett 2003, Orr et al. 2005b), comprehensive priority-setting assessments (Royal Society 2005, Kleypas et al. 2006), and numerous articles in the mass media.Despite the serious implications of ocean acidification for marine ecosystems, thorough scientific investigation of this problem is only just beginning.It is accepted that average global ocean pH ha

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14. Simplification, not “tropicalization”, of temperate marine ecosystems under ocean warming and acidification

    S. Agostini, Ben P. Harvey, M. Milazzo, et al. · 2021 · Global Change Biology · 57 citations

    Ocean warming is altering the biogeographical distribution of marine organisms. In the tropics, rising sea surface temperatures are restructuring coral reef communities with sensitive species being lost. At the biogeographical divide between temperate and tropical communities, warming is causing macroalgal forest loss and the spread of tropical corals, fishes and other species, termed “tropicalization”. A lack of field research into the combined effects of warming and ocean acidification means there is a gap in our ability to understand and plan for changes in coastal ecosystems. Here, we focus on the tropicalization trajectory of temperate marine ecosystems becoming coral‐dominated systems.

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15. Upwelling Amplifies Ocean Acidification on the East Australian Shelf: Implications for Marine Ecosystems

    K. Schulz, Simon Hartley, B. Eyre · 2019 · Frontiers in Marine Science · 35 citations

    Frequent upwelling of cold deep water rich in dissolved inorganic nutrients but low in oxygen concentrations and pH is well documented in so-called Eastern-boundary systems. As a consequence vast areas of the continental shelf can turn corrosive to the mineral aragonite, vital to a number of marine organisms. This phenomenon is projected to become more severe with ongoing ocean acidification. Although upwelling is also known to occur in Western-boundary systems, the impact on present day aragonite saturation state (Ω arag ) is virtually unknown, let alone for the decades to come. Here we identified 37 events during 18 weeks of continuous measurements in Cape Byron Marine Park, Australia, by

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16. Impact of Ocean Acidification on Ecosystem Functioning and Services in Habitat-Forming Species and Marine Ecosystems

    Serena Zunino, S. Libralato, Donata Melaku Canu, et al. · 2021 · Ecosystems · 30 citations

    Ocean acidification (OA) is expected to impact habitat-forming species (HFS), with cascading effects on the whole marine ecosystem and related services that are seldom quantified. Here, the changes in HFSs biomass due to OA are modeled using a food web ecosystem model, and the trophic and non-trophic cascading effects on the marine community are investigated. The food web model represents a well-studied coastal marine protected area in the NW Mediterranean Sea where coralligenous reefs and Posidonia oceanica meadows constitute important HFS. The model is used to implement 5 scenarios of habitat degradation, that is, reduction of HFS biomass, induced by increasing OA and to quantify the poten

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17. Impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems: educational challenges and innovations

    G. Fauville, R. Säljö, S. Dupont · 2013 · Marine Biology · 24 citations

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18. Characterization factors for ocean acidification impacts on marine biodiversity

    L. Scherer, İrem Gürdal, P. V. van Bodegom · 2022 · Journal of Industrial Ecology · 21 citations

    Rising greenhouse gas emissions do not only accelerate climate change but also make the ocean more acidic. This applies above all to carbon dioxide (CO2). Lower ocean pH levels threaten marine ecosystems and especially strongly calcifying species. Impacts on marine ecosystem quality are currently underrepresented in life cycle assessments (LCAs). Here, we developed characterization factors for the life cycle impact assessment of ocean acidification. Our main contribution was developing new species sensitivity distributions (SSDs), from which we derived effect factors for different impact perspectives: Marginal, linear, and average changes for both the past and four future emission scenarios

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19. Unifying biological field observations to detect and compare ocean acidification impacts across marine species and ecosystems: what to monitor and why

    S. Widdicombe, K. Isensee, Y. Artioli, et al. · 2023 · Ocean Science · 19 citations

    Abstract. Approximately one-quarter of the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere annually from human activities is absorbed by the ocean, resulting in a reduction of seawater pH and shifts in seawater carbonate chemistry. This multi-decadal process, termed “anthropogenic ocean acidification” (OA), has been shown to have detrimental impacts on marine ecosystems. Recent years have seen a globally coordinated effort to measure the changes in seawater chemistry caused by OA, with best practices now available for these measurements. In contrast to these substantial advances in observing physicochemical changes due to OA, quantifying their biological consequences remains challenging, especially from in si

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20. Effects of ocean acidification and warming on apoptosis and immune response in the mussel Mytilus coruscus.

    Bingyan Sun, Xukai Lan, Christian Bock, et al. · 2025 · Fish & shellfish immunology · 17 citations

    Ocean acidification and warming are significant stressors impacting marine ecosystems, exerting profound effects on the physiological ecology of marine organisms. We investigated the impact of ocean acidification and warming on the immune system of mussels, focusing on the regulatory mechanisms of intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis. The study explored the effects on the immune response ability of mussels (Mytilus coruscus) after 14 and 21 days under combined conditions of different temperatures (20 °C and 30 °C) and pH (8.1 and 7.7), as expected for the year 2100. The experimental results indicated that ocean acidification and warming have significant interactive effects on various immune par

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21. Environmental behavior and toxic effects of micro(nano)plastics and engineered nanoparticles on marine organisms under ocean acidification: a review.

    Ling Liu, Hai-Yang Yin, Yanan Xu, et al. · 2024 · Environmental research · 12 citations

    Ocean acidification (OA) driven by human activities and climate change presents new challenges to marine ecosystems. At the same time, the risks posed by micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) and engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) to marine ecosystems are receiving increasing attention. Although previous studies have uncovered the environmental behavior and the toxic effects of MNPs and ENPs under OA, there is a lack of comprehensive literature reviews in this field. Therefore, this paper reviews how OA affects the environmental behavior of MNPs and ENPs, and summarizes the effects and the potential mechanisms of their co-exposure on marine organisms. The review indicates that OA changes the marine chemic

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22. A mapped dataset of surface ocean acidification indicators in large marine ecosystems of the United States

    Jonathan D. Sharp, Li‐Qing Jiang, B. Carter, et al. · 2024 · Scientific Data · 11 citations

    Mapped monthly data products of surface ocean acidification indicators from 1998 to 2022 on a 0.25° by 0.25° spatial grid have been developed for eleven U.S. large marine ecosystems (LMEs). The data products were constructed using observations from the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas, co-located surface ocean properties, and two types of machine learning algorithms: Gaussian mixture models to organize LMEs into clusters of similar environmental variability and random forest regressions (RFRs) that were trained and applied within each cluster to spatiotemporally interpolate the observational data. The data products, called RFR-LMEs, have been averaged into regional timeseries to summarize the status

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23. Hidden cost of pH variability in seagrass beds on marine calcifiers under ocean acidification.

    D. Cossa, Eduardo Infantes, S. Dupont · 2024 · The Science of the total environment · 10 citations

    Coastal ecosystems experience large environmental variability leading to local adaptation. The key role of variability and adaptation in modulating the biological sensitivity to ocean acidification is increasingly acknowledged. Monitoring and understanding the ecological niche at the right spatio-temporal scale is key to understand the sensitivity of any organism and ecosystems. However, the role of the variability in relevant carbonate chemistry parameters as a driver is often overlooked. For example, the balance between photosynthesis and respiration over the day/night cycle is leading to high pH/pCO2 variability in seagrass beds. We hypothesized that (i) the calcifying larvae of the sea u

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24. How does ocean acidification affect Zostera marina during a marine heatwave?

    Wen-Jie Yan, Zhaohua Wang, Yanzhao Pei, et al. · 2023 · Marine pollution bulletin · 10 citations

    Extreme ocean events caused by global warming, such as marine heatwaves (MHWs) and ocean acidification (OA), are projected to intensify. A combination of extreme events may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems. Zostera marina was selected to understand how seagrass adapts to OA in extremely hot conditions. By combining morphology, transcriptomics, and metabolomics under mesoscale experimental conditions, we systematically investigated the response characteristics of Z. marina. Extremely high temperatures had a pronounced effect on growth, and the combined effect of OA mitigated the inhibitory effect of MHW. Both transcriptomic and metabolomic results showed that Z. marina resisted

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