The magazine of the european research area European Commission Copenhagen, a missed chance?

These species with a calcareous shell or skeleton are all at risk 

from ocean acidification.   

1

  An adult Cavolinia inflexa obtained in the bay of Villefranche (FR). 

This mollusc that lives submerged in water and possesses a calcareous shell 

is very sensitive to pH levels.  

2

  Juvenile of the Mediterranean pteropod Cavolinia inflexa. The part coloured 

green is the shell, tinted with fluorochrome calcein.

3

  Limacina helicina, a swimming sea snail that lives in the Arctic, collected 

in the Kongsfjorden (Spitzberg). 

4

  Mediterranean sea algae represent an underwater flora much affected 

by ocean acidification.  

What is certain is that acidification is tak-

ing place, it is measurable and it is increasing 

as CO

2

 emissions increase. The pH of oceans 

is believed to have fallen from 8.2 to 8.1 since 

the beginning of the industrial era. To offset 

this problem, there is just one solution: 

reduce CO

2

 emissions. It is an imperative 

stressed by  more than 150 oceanologists 

in the Monaco Declaration, a text published 

in January 2009 that calls on political leaders 

to take account of ocean acidification at the 

Climate Conferences.