Hobart

Seminar Abstract

Thursday 9 February 2012, *9.30am* (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Catriona L Hurd
Department of Botany
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand

Ocean acidification: calcifiers are just the tip of the iceberg

The world’s oceans have absorbed up ~ 30% of the carbon dioxide released by human activity since the Industrial Revolution. The result is that our oceans are becoming more acidic, a process termed ocean acidification. Research has focused on how ocean acidification will affect the ability of marine shellfish and corals to build and maintain their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. Marine algae (seaweeds and microscopic phytoplankton) are responsible for half of global primary productivity, and require carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Because ocean acidification alters the availability of carbon dioxide, and other dissolved carbon sources to algae, it has the potential to affect the productivity of all marine algae. This fact has been largely overlooked but changes to algal productivity have wide ranging implications for marine food webs and fisheries. Using targeted physiological studies in conjunction with ecosystem surveys, we are examining which algal groups, calcifying and non-calcifying, macroscopic and microscopic, will be most susceptible to ocean acidification. Results will allow predictions of the future vulnerability of New Zealand’s algal-based coastal and open ocean ecosystems to ocean acidification.

Hurd seminar recording

AND

Philip W Boyd
NIWA Centre for Chemical and Physical Oceanography
Department of Chemistry
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand

Placing ocean acidification into the wider context of global environmental change

Research into the biological threat of reduced pH, termed Ocean Acidification (OA), has yielded many insights over the past decade. Moreover, the findings from OA research have been successfully disseminated to a wide audience, extending well beyond the boundaries of the traditional scientific community. There is much to be learnt from the OA community by the fledgling research field which is investigating the effects of global environmental change on oceanic biota. In turn, much of the preliminary research into global environmental change reveals that the interplay of multiple environmental stressors on ocean biota results in either significant amplification or diminution of the effects of a sole stressor, such as OA. Our growing appreciation of how global environmental change will manifest itself in turn lays down the challenge of understanding the complex interplay of a matrix of changing ocean properties and their biological implications. Today, I will present highlights of OA research from our group in New Zealand ranging from fundamental studies to policy outreach. I will then discuss the significance of OA research within the theme of global environmental change.

Boyd seminar recording

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Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
Andrew Meijers, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5335
Natalie Kelly, (Biology/Modelling seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research 0438 452 483
Jillian Enraght-Moony, (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5320
Communications Manager, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 7888
Tracey Cochrane, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2937

Last updated 30/03/12