July 18, 2012 Since the Industrial Revolution, ocean acidity has
risen by 30 percent as a direct result of fossil-fuel burning
and deforestation. And within the last 50 years, human industry
has caused the world’s oceans to experience a sharp increase in
acidity that rivals levels seen when ancient carbon cycles
triggered mass extinctions, which took out more than 90 percent
of the oceans’ species and more than 75 percent of terrestrial
species. Rising ocean acidity is now considered to be just as
much of a formidable threat to the health of Earth’s environment
as the atmospheric climate changes brought on by pumping out
greenhouse gases. Scientists are now trying to understand what
that means for the future survival of marine and terrestrial
organisms. In June, ScienceNOW reported that out of the 35
billion metric tons of carbon dioxide released annually through
fossil fuel use, one-third of those emissions diffuse into the
surface layer of the ocean. The effects those emissions will
have on the biosphere is