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As humans continue to pump carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, some of the CO2 gets absorbed into the sea, which raises its acidity--a process called ocean acidification. Scientists are seeking to learn whether or not organisms can adapt to this threat--whether or not species can evolve along with the ocean, adapting over time to the increasing acidity.
Hannes Baumann, an assistant professor of marine sciences who studies the phenomenon in his lab at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus, and colleagues are using the Atlantic silverside as their research subject, a common shallow water fish and an important food source for aquatic birds like egrets and cormorants, as well as commercially important fish species like bluefish and striped bass.Image credit: Chris Pickerell, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (www.seagrassli.org)
