Biocalcification under the Influence of OceanAcidification

• Main Authors: Joji Marau Misaele, 李白
• Other Authors: 陳恕行
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49240451884643919589

碩士 === 崑山科技大學 === 機械工程研究所 === 98 === Oceans are the biggest active carbon reservoir where calcification removes one giga ton C yearly and plays an important role in mitigating global warming. Calcifying organisms are an integral part to the carbon cycle as well as to the ecological community. However, calcifying organisms are threatened by ocean acidification caused by carbon emission and other human activities. Understanding fundamental calcifying mechanism is important to help increase calcification under the influence of acidification. The current work focuses on the calcification of shellfish and discusses whether practical measures like nutrition control, culturing density and soil management can help. Many calcifying organisms live at the coastal regions where acidification is most profound. The pH of the main body of ocean is 8.0~8.2, while below 7 becomes commonplace for coastal water nowadays. Under such pH value, it is difficult to form calcium carbonate crystals chemically. It has been observed that low pH water often forces shellfish to produce thicker shells. The EDS result showed a high concentration of calcium. In the nacre the atomic ratio of CaCO3 was around 4.1: 1: 2 instead of 1:1:3. This suggests that biological process plays an interesting and important role in calcification.