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It comes in waves and is influenced by temperature, daylight, ocean currents and other factors that affect water chemistry and seagrass photosynthesis rates. The study finds that sea grass ecosystems can raise pH levels by more than 0.1 unit, equivalent to about a 30% decrease in acidity. The authors claim it’s the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind. It focused on the common eelgrass, one of the most widespread sea grass species on the West Coast. Researchers analyzed six years of data from sea grass meadows spanning more than 600 miles off the California coastline. The study presents a natural way to address the problem. It’s a threat both to natural ecosystems and to shellfish fisheries in the U.S. Ocean acidification can have harmful effects on marine organisms like shellfish and coral by preventing them from properly forming the hard shells they need to survive. Scientists sometimes refer to it as global warming’s “evil twin”-an invisible companion to climate change. Some of this CO 2 dissolves out of the air and into the sea, spurring a chemical reaction that lowers the water’s pH. Ocean acidification is a side effect of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
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“I think we are all very excited about it,” said lead study author Aurora Ricart, a scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Marine Sciences in Maine. As they perform photosynthesis, they remove carbon dioxide from the water, counteracting the acidifying effect of the gas. The study published last week in the journal Global Change Biology finds that sea grass forests can raise pH levels in coastal waters. New research suggests sea grass meadows may also mitigate a serious consequence of greenhouse gas emissions: the steady acidification of ocean waters. These blue-green fields perform a variety of important services: They protect the shoreline from erosion, clear pollutants from the water and provide habitat for all kinds of marine animals. Vast underwater meadows of gently waving sea grass stand sentinel for hundreds of miles up and down the West Coast.