Climate Change: "Acidification affects the food
chain of marine ecosystems"
chain of marine ecosystems"
Nowadays, living beings are increasingly affected by climate change, which creates imbalances in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. To clarify some doubts on the subject, we interviewed Susana Galante-Oliveira, a Postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies Center of the University of Aveiro (Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar da Universidade de Aveiro), who studies the impact of climate change on marine invertebrates, including bivalves and gastropods.
Jornal Face ao Douro (JFD) – We know that you are an expert in marine biology and that the object of your research is marine invertebrates such as bivalves and gastropods. What led you to choose this area of research?
Susana Galante-Oliveira (SGO) – During my final year as a graduate, I participated in the “Research Project” (a course attended in the last year of Biology at the University of Aveiro) in marine biology, in the environmental pollution monitoring area using gastropods as bioindicators. I began the research in 2003 and started my Ph.D. in 2004 in this same area. I came to realise that some of the problems that gastropods could have were probably due to the climate change that is taking place in the marine environment. This is an ongoing process, and forecasts of its evolution are not encouraging. I started with gastropods because they were the object of my research as bioindicators of environmental pollution. However, about two years ago, I also started working with aquaculture bivalves and noticing that one of the structures I studied in gastropods, which also exists in bivalves, will be affected by global climate change, and therefore it can also be affected in bivalves, with impacts on the production of these animals in aquaculture.
JFD – According to the study you have been developing, what is the impact of climate change on these living beings?
SGO – Climate change is characterised by the occurrence of several interrelated and continuous phenomena, including heating both of the terrestrial environment as well as the ocean causing, for example, the well-known melting of the polar ice caps. Another problem associated with global climate change is ocean acidification. With the increased emission of gases causing the greenhouse effect, in particular CO2, in addition to the increase in temperature, it also increases the acidification of the ocean because it absorbs most of the atmospheric CO2 triggering a chemical reaction that causes the release of hydrogen ions lowering the pH (*1). Well, many marine invertebrates are calcifiers (*2), and among carbonates produced by these animals are what we name statoliths, small formations which are located in the equilibrium organs, the receptors of gravity designated statocysts. But with ocean acidification, the formation of these carbonates will potentially be affected, which could cause these animals to lose balance. This may affect the entire food chain of marine ecosystems, from primary producers, which we call phytoplankton, the primary consumers, and even predators. It's all a big game of balance that, if broken, will disrupt the patterns previously observed globally.
JFD – What is the role of society in solving the problems experienced in marine habitats?
SGO – First, the public needs to form an opinion and to this end, the dissemination of information required for such decision-making is crucial. Furthermore, and in relation to these global impact issues, it is important that people are trained from an early age, when they are young so that when reaching adulthood and become entrepreneurs, industrialists, etc., that is, when they are those responsible for the often political decision-making, they are more sensible to these problems. With regard to our country, for example, the impact of climate change may be large. If a strategic plan for the protection of our coastline is made by people who are properly informed and aware of the impact of this problem, then its development by people and for people will be much easier, instead of making decisions based, for instance, simply on the costs involved. Nowadays, there is already some awareness of this problem, but unfortunately, the power of money is still unavoidable. Anyway, if you ask me what I can do, I answer: I? Alone? Maybe nothing; but when we talk about the members of a given sector of activity, in a society, they can do a lot; as long as the said society is properly sensitised.
(*1) logarithmic scale that measures the degree of acidity, neutrality or alkalinity of a solution.
(*2) organisms that produce hard skeletal carbonate tissues such as the calcium carbonate shells of bivalves and the majority of gastropods or non-skeletal, such as statoliths, which are included in gravity receptor organs (the statocysts) of most invertebrates.
Susana Galante-Oliveira (SGO) – During my final year as a graduate, I participated in the “Research Project” (a course attended in the last year of Biology at the University of Aveiro) in marine biology, in the environmental pollution monitoring area using gastropods as bioindicators. I began the research in 2003 and started my Ph.D. in 2004 in this same area. I came to realise that some of the problems that gastropods could have were probably due to the climate change that is taking place in the marine environment. This is an ongoing process, and forecasts of its evolution are not encouraging. I started with gastropods because they were the object of my research as bioindicators of environmental pollution. However, about two years ago, I also started working with aquaculture bivalves and noticing that one of the structures I studied in gastropods, which also exists in bivalves, will be affected by global climate change, and therefore it can also be affected in bivalves, with impacts on the production of these animals in aquaculture.
JFD – According to the study you have been developing, what is the impact of climate change on these living beings?
SGO – Climate change is characterised by the occurrence of several interrelated and continuous phenomena, including heating both of the terrestrial environment as well as the ocean causing, for example, the well-known melting of the polar ice caps. Another problem associated with global climate change is ocean acidification. With the increased emission of gases causing the greenhouse effect, in particular CO2, in addition to the increase in temperature, it also increases the acidification of the ocean because it absorbs most of the atmospheric CO2 triggering a chemical reaction that causes the release of hydrogen ions lowering the pH (*1). Well, many marine invertebrates are calcifiers (*2), and among carbonates produced by these animals are what we name statoliths, small formations which are located in the equilibrium organs, the receptors of gravity designated statocysts. But with ocean acidification, the formation of these carbonates will potentially be affected, which could cause these animals to lose balance. This may affect the entire food chain of marine ecosystems, from primary producers, which we call phytoplankton, the primary consumers, and even predators. It's all a big game of balance that, if broken, will disrupt the patterns previously observed globally.
JFD – What is the role of society in solving the problems experienced in marine habitats?
SGO – First, the public needs to form an opinion and to this end, the dissemination of information required for such decision-making is crucial. Furthermore, and in relation to these global impact issues, it is important that people are trained from an early age, when they are young so that when reaching adulthood and become entrepreneurs, industrialists, etc., that is, when they are those responsible for the often political decision-making, they are more sensible to these problems. With regard to our country, for example, the impact of climate change may be large. If a strategic plan for the protection of our coastline is made by people who are properly informed and aware of the impact of this problem, then its development by people and for people will be much easier, instead of making decisions based, for instance, simply on the costs involved. Nowadays, there is already some awareness of this problem, but unfortunately, the power of money is still unavoidable. Anyway, if you ask me what I can do, I answer: I? Alone? Maybe nothing; but when we talk about the members of a given sector of activity, in a society, they can do a lot; as long as the said society is properly sensitised.
(*1) logarithmic scale that measures the degree of acidity, neutrality or alkalinity of a solution.
(*2) organisms that produce hard skeletal carbonate tissues such as the calcium carbonate shells of bivalves and the majority of gastropods or non-skeletal, such as statoliths, which are included in gravity receptor organs (the statocysts) of most invertebrates.
Work by: de: Catarina Tavares, Cláudia Guedes, Denise Gomes, Isabel Mendonça e Pedro Fernandes.
10th and 12th Grades
Escola Secundária Diogo de Macedo (High School), Gaia
This work was carried out under the Flash Seminar held on the 21st and the 28th of October 2015 at Escola Secundária Diogo de Macedo (High School), in Gaia. Students developed media content based on interviews with experts in various fields related to climate change and research on the subject.
10th and 12th Grades
Escola Secundária Diogo de Macedo (High School), Gaia
This work was carried out under the Flash Seminar held on the 21st and the 28th of October 2015 at Escola Secundária Diogo de Macedo (High School), in Gaia. Students developed media content based on interviews with experts in various fields related to climate change and research on the subject.