Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Oceanography

A sea butterfly flaps its wings

Nature Geoscience volume 5, pages 845–846 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Ocean acidification is predicted to harm the ocean's shell-building organisms over the coming centuries. Sea butterflies, an ecologically important group of molluscs in the Arctic and Southern oceans, are already suffering the effects.

Many marine organisms use calcium carbonate in the form of either aragonite or calcite to build their shells and skeletons. However, as the ocean acidifies, concentrations of carbonate ions, a constituent of calcium carbonate, decline. When carbonate ion concentrations drop sufficiently to cause the aragonite saturation state of sea water to fall below 1 (a condition referred to as undersaturation), non-biological calcium carbonate starts to dissolve, replenishing the dwindling carbonate pool. The resultant decline in seawater carbonate ion concentrations could limit the growth of calcifying marine organisms and potentially trigger their dissolution. The aragonite form of calcium carbonate is more susceptible to dissolution than the calcite form, rendering aragonite-based organisms at greater risk of dissolution as the ocean acidifies. Indeed, laboratory incubations suggest that shells of aragonite-based molluscs, including clams, conchs and whelks, start to dissolve at aragonite saturation states greater than 1 (Refs 2,8).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Impacts of ocean acidification.

ALEXANDER SEMENOV

References

  1. Hall-Spencer, J. M. et al. Nature 454, 96–99 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ries, J. B., Cohen, A. L. & McCorkle, D. C. Geology 37, 1131–1134 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bednaršek, N. et al. Nature Geosci. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1635 (2012).

  4. Orr, J. C. et al. Nature 437, 681–686 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Byrne, R. H. Acker, J. G., Betzer, P. R., Feely, R. A. & Cates, M. H. Nature 312, 321–326 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Feely, R. A. et al. Mar. Chem. 25, 227–241 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Comeau, S. Gorsky, G., Alliouane, S. & Gattuso, J. P. Mar. Biol. 157, 2341–2345 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Green M. A., Waldbusser, G. G., Reilly, S. L., Emerson, K. & O'Donnell, S. Limnol. Oceanogr. 54, 1037–1047 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Trotter, J. et al. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 303, 163–173 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Rodolfo-Metalpa, R. et al. Nature Clim. Change 1, 308–312 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Crenshaw, M. A. Biol. Bull. 143, 506–512 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ries, J. B. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 75, 4053–4064 (2011b).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Comeau, S. Jeffree, R., Teyssie, J. L. & Gattuso, J. P. PLoS ONE 296, e11362 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lorenz, E. N. J. Atmos. Sci. 20, 130–141 (1963).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Berner, R. A. & Honjo, S. Science 3, 940–942 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Francois R., Honjo, S., Krishfield, R. & Manganini, S. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 16, 1087–1107 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Justin B. Ries is in the Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 4202G Venable Hall, CB 3300, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA,

    Justin B. Ries

Authors
  1. Justin B. Ries
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justin B. Ries.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ries, J. A sea butterfly flaps its wings. Nature Geosci 5, 845–846 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1655

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1655

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing