Houghton Lectures

Marine ecosystems and ocean acidification.

The ocean holds 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere. Because of its large buffer capacity, the ocean will eventually absorb 60 to 85% of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere on a time scale of 1000 years or longer. However the uptake of carbon dioxide by the ocean has the side effect of acidifying the water, with negative consequences for marine ecosystems and unclear implications for the functioning of the marine carbon cycle. This lecture will detail the linkages between marine ecosystem processes (from bacteria to jellyfish) and the carbon cycle. It will show how ecosystem processes can be understood through their biogeochemical functionality, and explain the knowns and unknowns of the impacts of ocean acidification. The lecture will end with a discussion of how changes in marine ecosystems could have knock on effects on climate regulation.