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Modern mussel shells much thinner than 50 years ago
https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2016/06/15/modern-mussel-shells-much-thinner-than-50-years-ago/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Modern mussel shells much thinner than 50 years ago[/font]
[font size=1]Posted on June 15, 2016 by Matt Wood in Spotlight[/font]
[font size=4]Shells from the Pacific Northwest are nearly a third thinner now than specimens collected in the 1970s[/font]
[font size=3]As humans burn fossils fuels, the oceans absorb a large portion of the additional carbon released into the atmosphere. This in turn causes pH levels of ocean water to drop, making it more acidic. Mussels, oysters, and certain species of algae have difficulty producing their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons in such an environment, and can provide an early indicator of how increasing ocean acidification affects marine life.
A new study by University of Chicago biologists shows how those effects are coming to pass. They compared shells of California mussels collected from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington in the 1970s to modern specimens, and saw that the older shells are on average 32 percent thicker.
Shells collected by Native Americans 1,000 to 1,300 years ago were also 27 percent thicker than modern shells, on average. The decreasing thickness over time, in particular the last few decades, is likely due to ocean acidification as a result of increased carbon in the atmosphere.
…
For the new study, the researchers compared the thicknesses of the same sets of shells. On average, the shells provided by the Makah Cultural and Research Center were 27.6 percent thicker than modern counterparts. Shells from the 1970s were 32.2 percent thicker. Shells collected from a different Native American site in Sand Point, WA, dating between 2150 and 2420 years old were almost 94 percent thicker than modern shells.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=1]Posted on June 15, 2016 by Matt Wood in Spotlight[/font]
[font size=4]Shells from the Pacific Northwest are nearly a third thinner now than specimens collected in the 1970s[/font]
[font size=3]As humans burn fossils fuels, the oceans absorb a large portion of the additional carbon released into the atmosphere. This in turn causes pH levels of ocean water to drop, making it more acidic. Mussels, oysters, and certain species of algae have difficulty producing their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons in such an environment, and can provide an early indicator of how increasing ocean acidification affects marine life.
A new study by University of Chicago biologists shows how those effects are coming to pass. They compared shells of California mussels collected from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington in the 1970s to modern specimens, and saw that the older shells are on average 32 percent thicker.
Shells collected by Native Americans 1,000 to 1,300 years ago were also 27 percent thicker than modern shells, on average. The decreasing thickness over time, in particular the last few decades, is likely due to ocean acidification as a result of increased carbon in the atmosphere.
…
For the new study, the researchers compared the thicknesses of the same sets of shells. On average, the shells provided by the Makah Cultural and Research Center were 27.6 percent thicker than modern counterparts. Shells from the 1970s were 32.2 percent thicker. Shells collected from a different Native American site in Sand Point, WA, dating between 2150 and 2420 years old were almost 94 percent thicker than modern shells.
…[/font][/font]