The Danger
For many marine organisms, calcium carbonate compounds, sometimes known as aragonite, are the building blocks of their shells or skeletons. Usually, seawater is supersaturated with aragonite, and organisms have adapted over millions of years to build their shells with this abundance of material. But ocean acidification has caused ocean waters to become deficient in aragonite (as the calcium carbonate bonds with water and carbon dioxide to make bicarbonate), making it tougher for several calcifying organisms such as corals, oysters, shrimp, lobster, clams, and sea urchin to produce and maintain their shells. Furthermore, because this phenomenon is concentrated in the surface of the ocean, where many of these organisms thrive, the impact is significant.
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