[UPDATE, 1/30: A new report on ocean acidification has been
released. Some scientists who question whether the carbon
dioxide buildup poses a danger to corals stress that corals have
endured for hundreds of millions of years. Today's reefs may not
be as durable as the species that built them. One way or the
other, it's clear that the direct chemical impacts of
accumulating CO2 on marine life have received less attention,
and been less studied, than the climatological consequences.]
[UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Voices added below] Most concerns about
growing emissions of carbon dioxide have focused on the gas’s
heat-trapping effect on climate. But ocean experts have
increasingly warned that the direct chemical impact on marine
life, as carbon dioxide dissolves in water and lowers its pH,
could profoundly disrupt ecosystems by interfering with the
growth of reefs and shell-forming plankton. Now, though, a new
laboratory study has shown that some types of plankton thrive in
water with a low pH created by greatly raising co