Acid Oceans

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)

This video follows biologist Gretchen Hofmann as she studies the effects of ocean acidification on sea urchin larvae.

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Notes from our reviewers

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Easily used in any unit dealing with oceans, marine biology, and climate change.
The ocean has absorbed about a third of the carbon dioxide emitted through human activities, altering the pH of the ocean, reducing its buffering capacity. Through the University of California, Santa Barbara, sea urchins are used to set up ocean acidification experiments testing how CO2 affects sea urchins' formation of their calcified parts like spines, exoskeleton, and mouth parts. Comments from expert scientist: excellent discussion of real studies of the effects of ocean acidification on development of larval urchins. I would use it in any high school or college class.