Shellfish face an uncertain future in a high CO2 world
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 - 04:28
in Earth & Climate
Overfishing and disease have decimated shellfish populations in many of the world's temperate estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Smithsonian scientists, led by Whitman Miller, ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre in Edgewater, Md., have discovered another serious threat to these valuable filter feeders - rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that contribute to the acidification of open ocean, coastal and estuarine waters. Their findings are being published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, 27 May...