The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidification may have severe consequences for marine ecosystems; however, assessing its future impact is difficult because laboratory experiments and field observations are limited by their reduced ecologic complexity and sample period, respectively. In contrast, the geological record contains long-term evidence for a variety of global environmental perturbations, including ocean acidification plus their associated biotic responses. We review events exhibiting evidence for elevated atmospheric CO(2), global warming, and ocean acidification over the past ~300 million years of Earth's history, some with contemporaneous extinction or evolutionary turnover among marine calcifiers. Although similarities…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• PG
  Past Global Changes
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/H017356/1, NE/H017518/1, NE/H023852/1, NE/F017383/1, NE/H017453/1
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/F017383/1, NE/H023852/1, NE/H017453/1, NE/H017356/1, NE/H017518/1