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Brown 2018 McCarrison Society

From Bioblast
Publications in the MiPMap
Brown RA (2018) Ocean acidification, a quantifiable process contributing to risk of atmospheric and oceanic oxygen depletion and so possible human extinction? A call for research. McCarrison Society p12.


Brown RA (2018) McCarrison Society

Abstract: Call for research - We all need oxygen โ€“ โ€œThe oceans are gasping for airโ€ 1, 2, 3


โ€œHuman dominion over planet Earth is driving profound changes that may culminate in extinction.โ€ 4 Whilst there is wider research into the oceanic impact of climate change including warming and acidification,5, 6 and on oxygen content of oceans, there is very little research into the specific impact of acidification and related carbon dioxide changes on marine photosynthetic oxygen production.

This is an important field of research as it also involves consideration of the consequent effects of excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, including warming, on oceanic and atmospheric oxygen, oxygen exchange between them and possibilities of tipping points whereby photosynthetic marine organisms may rapidly die off, potentially leading to severe existential consequences for aerobic life forms. We bemoan the loss of polar bears and rare alpine plants along with changes to weather and food, but as societies and individuals we are reluctant to severely moderate the day-to-day fossil fuel energy consumption that underlies 21st century life. When faced by the choice of polar bears vs cars, heating, laptops and phones, the polar bears lose!

Ocean acidification is a more empirically evidenced phenomenon than climate change, however, it is also less prominent in the public psyche even though it springs from the same increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Were research to be commissioned, though, that provides clear evidence of risk to oceanic oxygen production and therefore atmospheric oxygen levels, the conclusions could be far-reaching, including identifying a potential tipping point that may result in human extinction. This stark prospect would, arguably, be easier to convey to, and fix in the wider public consciousness than the more diffuse issues around climate change. Humans are reminded with every breath they take that oxygen is essential to their health function and, ultimately, their survival and existence as a species.7 The importance of the prospect of oxygen depletion for future generations would be easily understood by all, and so promote greater public engagement and cohesive demand for a global response to try and find viable energy alternatives to fossil fuels.

โ€ข Bioblast editor: Kandolf G


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References

  1. Long M. The oceans are gasping for air. Japan Today. 24th Jan 2018 (scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.)
  2. NASA | Earth Science Week: The Ocean's Green Machines. NASA Goddard Episode 3 in the six-part series "Tides of Change". (Background video)
  3. Ocean oxygen falling two to three times faster than predicted (Background video)
  4. Martin D, McKenna H, Livina V. The human physiological impact of global deoxygenation. The Journal of Physiological Sciences. January 2017, Volume 67, Issue 1, pp 97โ€“106.
  5. The Ocean Portal Team; Reviewed by Jennifer Bennett (NOAA). Ocean Acidification. Smithsonian National Museum of natural History.
  6. Ogden L. Marine Life on Acid: Predicting future biodiversity in our changing oceans. BioScience, Volume 63, Issue 5, 1 May 2013, Pages 322โ€“328.
  7. Global warming disaster could suffocate life on planet Earth, research shows. University of Leicester. 12 Dec 2015.