- Number of visits 67
- Number of saves 21
- 2
Description
- Overview:
- It's no secret that greenhouse gases warm the planet and that this has dire consequences for the environment whole islands swallowed up by rising seas, animal and plant species stressed by higher temperatures, and upsets in ecological interactions as populations move to cooler areas. However, carbon dioxide has another, less familiar environmental repercussion: making the Earth's oceans more acidic. Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mean that more carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean. This dissolved carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid the same substance that helps give carbonated beverages their acidic kick. While this process isn't going to make the ocean fizzy anytime soon, it is introducing its own set of challenges for marine organisms like plankton and coral.
- Subject:
- Biology
- Level:
- High School, Community College / Lower Division, College / Upper Division
- Material Type:
- Diagram/Illustration, Reading
- Provider:
- University of California Museum of Paleontology
- Provider Set:
- Understanding Evolution
- Date Added:
- 10/01/2012
- License:
- Some Rights Reserved
- Language:
- English
- Media Format:
- Graphics/Photos, Text/HTML
This is an excellent, ecologically-relevant framing for understanding how we can experimentally evaluate the potential for evolution/adaptation. As is, there are some gaps that students will find confusing (i.e. why are some of the selection conditions missing in the future/very high treatments in the figure?), and the wrap-up is a little vague (tip of what proverbial iceberg?). It's not set up to be downloaded/converted to a worksheet (the links make it a self-guided activity for students), but it directs instructors to some useful resources. It can serve as a basis for in-class activities evaluating experimental design and practicing interpreting figures, with great potential to be connected in with other papers about ocean acidification and the ability of organisms to adapt to climate change.
This is a good resource to examine data related to ocean acidification. It presents data to see if important protist primary producers can adapt to increased ocean acidification. It includes primary research papers on the subject that can be used for implementing CCSS Science Literacy Standards. The average student will require teacher support and facilitation for this unit to be useful. Nice supplemental resources on natural selection, artificial selection, evolution and global warming. HCPS III SC.BS.3.1