Question

1. Explain how the buffer system in our blood is related to ocean acidification. According to the video “Changing Waters on the Oregon Coast”:

Q1: What aquatic organisms are most vulnerable to ocean acidification?

Q2: Why will the Oregon coast continue to see an increase in ocean acidification for 30-35 years even if we were to completely stop CO2 emissions today and cap the atmospheric levels?

Answer 1

Like any buffering system, a bicarbonate buffer resists change in pH. Thus it helps stabilize the pH of solutions like blood and ocean water. Ocean acidification and the effects of exercise on the body are both examples of how bicarbonate buffering works in practice.

Q. 1.

• Oysters.
• Scallops.
• Mussels.
• Corals.
• Starfish.
• Sea urchins.
• Sea butterflies (pteropods)
• Shell-forming algae and amoebas

Q. 2.Francis Chan, an associate professor and senior researcher in Oregon State University’s Department of Integrative Biology syayes that "The ocean may look the same, but the water is changing."

“Carbon is changing ocean chemistry faster than it has the last million years,”

ocean acidification threatens the Oregon Coast socially, culturally, economically and recreationally.

Acidification affects all shell-building species, including the iconic crab.