Saturday, April 19, 2008

Algae say Hell yeah to Global Warming!

This article from the NYtimes talks about how the whole global warming scenario can actually help these microorganisms to thrive. Previous experiments conducted by scientists had indicated that the acidification of the ocean due to global waming had reduced single celled coccolithophores algae' ability to build the disks of carbonate that form their shells. This was a major cause for concern as the algae formed an integral part of the oceanic food chain. Recent studies performed by English scientists have proven that a more realistic procedure of dissolving the CO2 in the water to reduce the Ph as opposed to just acidifying it. The new experiments have shown that the algae actually thrive in an environment of increasing CO2 concentration.
We've all heard about how the earth is a source and a sink. but this emphasizes that. The increasing CO2 levels could increase the temperature of the earth and wipe out certain species but nourish some at the same time, its beautiful!

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