Laboratory experiments exposed blacktip reef shark teeth to seawater at pH 8.2 and pH 7.3 for eight weeks to simulate present and projected ocean acidity. Tanks of artificially salted water held 16 undamaged teeth and 36 teeth with limited damage. The lower pH level, matching projections for 2300, caused teeth to become structurally weaker and more prone to cracking and breakage. Reduced tooth integrity impairs sharks' ability to catch and process prey. Loss of effective predators could cascade through food webs and destabilize marine ecosystems.
They're among the top underwater predators, capable of ripping flesh from the bone with a single bite. But even sharks are not immune to the effects of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions, a new study reveals. In lab experiments, scientists in Germany exposed shark teeth to water with the acidity of the global ocean 175 years from now. They found that more acidic oceans - a consequence of carbon emissions - makes shark teeth structurally weaker and more prone to cracking and breakage.
Some scientists consider ocean acidification to be an overlooked casualty of global warming. It is mostly driven by the release of human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere dissolving into the ocean. This leads to a lowering of the water's pH, making the ocean more acidic. Currently, the average pH of the world's oceans is 8.2, but by 2300 it is expected to have dropped to 7.3 - almost 10 times more acidic than at present.
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