{"id":627249,"date":"2026-10-11T10:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T10:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627249\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T10:34:08","slug":"marine-biologist-fears-effects-of-increasing-carbon-dioxide-levels-on-sealife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627249\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine biologist fears effects of increasing carbon dioxide levels on sealife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine biologists say aquatic life is facing growing challenges as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

Victoria University marine biologist Dr Christopher Cornwall said carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels was absorbed by the ocean<\/a>, changing the chemistry of seawater and making it more acidic.<\/p>\n

The process, known as ocean acidification, affects organisms such as calcareous seaweeds and abalone, which rely on calcium carbonate to form and maintain their protective structures.<\/p>\n

Increasing carbon dioxide levels could also fuel the growth of some opportunistic species, while marine heatwaves and coastal darkening were creating further pressures on ocean ecosystems<\/a>, Dr Cornwall said.<\/p>\n

“So what’s happening is our oceans are becoming warmer as the world is becoming warmer,” he said.<\/p>\n

Coastal darkening occurs when sediment washed into the sea reduces the amount of light reaching underwater environments. It can affect photosynthesis in marine plants and algae.<\/p>\n

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the solution, Dr Cornwall said.<\/p>\n

“If we can do that, it’s going to be the biggest thing we can do to stop the effects of climate change manifesting even more intensely.”<\/p>\n

Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems was another important measure, he said.<\/p>\n

“So restoring these systems for the future with climate change resistant organisms, being able to more better manage these marine ecosystems and sustainably harvest from them.”<\/p>\n

His comments come ahead of the 6th International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World in Wellington this week from 13-16 October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marine biologists say aquatic life is facing growing challenges as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide. Victoria University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-627249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}