Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 02/22/2012 - 04:49
Forums
Seafloor Organisms and Changing Ocean Conditions in Antarctic

Hello Ms. Herrmann, When you are diving for specimens, are you researching their affects of the environment? Is climate change drastically changing their lives?

-Sarah Koberna

Wed, 02/22/2012 - 06:58

Nell Herrmann

Hi Sarah,Yes. The focus of this study is to see how ocean acidification is affecting the algae, limpets and snails the scientists are collecting. The way they will do that is to alter the water temperature and pH in a controlled laboratory experiment to see how these changes affect the species they are collecting. They are measuring a number of different variables including growth rates, calcification rates, and levels of protein, carbohydrate and lipids in the organisms. Much more information about the experiment is in my journal from 2-18-2012 (Setting Up and Cleaning Up). Ocean acidification a the lesser known side effect of climate change. It is caused by the same CO2 emissions that have been attributed to other aspects of climate change (warming trends, etc.).
Thanks for the good question!
-Ms. Herrmann