Acidez destruye vida marina

Acidic oceans destroying sea life

La actual acidez de los océanos es la mayor en medio millón de años.

Mankind is changing the chemistry of the oceans and may be causing the decline of sea life. Experts say the ocean is more acidic now than it has been at any time in the past half-million years.

Reporter: Roger Harrabin

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Carbon dioxide is an acidic gas and scientists say as it dissolves into the sea it's making seawater more acidic. They calculate that ocean acidity is up 30% since the Industrial Revolution. A new study shows the growth of some tiny shell forming creatures appears already to have been stunted by the change.

Research of this new branch of science suggests that as CO2 emissions continue to increase, many shell forming species may not survive the next 50 - 100 years. This would hit commercial fisheries and start to unpick the very web of life in the seas.

Dr Carol Turley, who is running today's acidification debate in Copenhagen, fears a mass extinction : ''55 million years ago there was a big production of CO2. That resulted in the mass extinction of seabed dwelling shell forming organisms . What we¿re doing now is far, far faster, so it may not be possible for organisms to adapt.''

Sceptics say we can't be sure how ocean chemistry will respond in the future and whether creatures will adapt. The scientists in Denmark say we simply shouldn¿t take the risk.

Roger Harrabin, BBC News

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shell forming creatures
criaturas que producen sus propios carapazones (conchas)

stunted
atrofiado

species
especies

hit commercial fisheries
afectaría en forma negativa la industria pesquera

to unpick the very web
destrozar el balance (de la vida marina)

acidification debate
el debate sobre el daño medioambiental causado por acidez

mass extinction
extinción masiva

seabed dwelling
criaturas que habitan el lecho marino

organisms
organismos

sceptics
los escépticos

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