Using Long-Term Data From Antarctica to Teach Ocean Acidification

Abstract

There is a mystery to be solved! This lesson plan asks students to identify the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of ocean acidification (OA). Global oceans have absorbed approximately a third of the CO2 produced by human activities, such as burning of fossil fuels, over the past decade (Sabine et al. 2004). This accumulation of CO2 in the ocean has lowered average global ocean pH and decreased the concentration of carbonate ions (CO32-) (Fabry et al. 2008). As a result of this OA, the carbonate chemistry of the global ocean is rapidly changing and affecting marine organisms (Orr et al. 2005). Pteropods (open-ocean snails) are considered bioindicators of OA due to the vulnerability of their aragonitic shells dissolving under increasingly acidic conditions from a changing climate (Figure 1) (Orr et al. 2005; Bednaršek et al. 2014). This lesson plan can be found at: >https://www.vims.edu/research/units/centerspartners/map/education/profdev/VASEA/lessons.php.