For millions of years, "Earth's oceans have maintained a relatively stable acidity level". In this consistent envrionment the various forms of life in today's seas have lived and thrived. Unfortunately, the Industrial Revolution brought on "emissions of billions of tons of carbon dioxide" and other harmful gases. Now scientists now that this CO2 has been absorbed into the oceans over time. While this has helped us humans by delaying the climate changes these gases would have caused, it is greatly harming sea life. This increase in CO2 has caused reproductive disorders in some fish and has harmed the shell growth process of many marine animals, including coral. While this area of study is a reletaviley new subject, scietists know that unless humans can control and eventually eliminate their fossil fuel emissions, ocean organisms will have to change their chemistry or they will die.
This was a summary of the article found here:
http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/
