The Effects of Global Climate Change on the Ocean

Since industrialization the burning of fossil fuel has been practiced worldwide in large scales, resulting in the increase of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. This increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the air will result in the increase of the gas being dissolved into the water, therefore resulting in a higher concentration of carbonic acid in the ocean waters increasing the acidity of the ocean’s water. High ocean acidity will harm many marine lifeforms, particularly calcifiers such as sea urchins and shells, this is because the carbonic acid in the water could corrode the calcium carbonate backbones of these life forms therefore denaturing their growth.
Other abiotic factors such as temperature also threatens marine biodiversity, because different ocean temperatures could change the acidity of the ocean. According to a theory, gas such as carbon dioxide dissolve easier in colder bodies of water rather than warmer bodies of water. Climate changes such as global warming could pose as a threat to marine life forms since increasing temperatures have a negative correlation with the rate of gasses being dissolved into water, this could create a disturbance to the oceans pH levels, making it unfavorable to marine life.

Project Aware: Reef Conservation

Coral reefs are magnificent structures in our world playing important roles in biodiversity, however pollution and global warming over the years have significantly damaged and endangered different species of corals. In Thailand for example sewage water and other wastes are constantly being dumped into rivers and oceans polluting these bodies of water, and being one of the worlds largest fish exporters, overfishing also poses as a great treat to marine life. All these factor is tied to coral health and greatly damages corals as well as its inhabitants. In order to decrease the amount of waste being dumped into the rivers and oceans we could start simply by being "green", and create awareness while spreading the simply technique of reduce, reuse, and recycle. One of the many solution to over fishing is the practice of fisheries, which breed and grow particular types of fish in a controlled environment. These methods benefit both us and the marine lifeforms therefore protecting corals reefs.

First Step Into the Marine World

Since a very young age I have developed great interest in both aquatic sports and also developed a great fascination for marine lifeforms, hoping that one day I could pursue a career in the field of marine biology. Join the marine biology program in my opinion is a great way to start out, career wise, in this particular field of science. It seems that all lifeforms both in and out of the ocean co-exist in their own unique ways, contributing to the biodiversity of different ecosystems, but before I could study these co-existences I must first master the basics of scuba diving. So far in the course I learned the importance of buoyancy as well as the relationships of pressure, volume, and density, all being rudimentary knowledge for a diver. We also gone through specific technique and regulations that are crucial during our dives, these include "never stop breathing" and "always equalize", and for precaution we also learned how respond properly to different situations. We also gone through specific usage and maintenance techniques for different diving equipments as well as stressing the importance of a buddy system. I'm very excited and hope to learn more about scuba diving as well as the different marine lifeforms found in our oceans, and I'm glad to be working with Mr. Jeff our scuba instructor, and Mrs.Paige our course adviser.