CO2 sensitivity experiments are not sufficient to show an effect of ocean acidification

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Author: McElhany, Paul
• Other Authors: Browman, Howard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2016
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsw085; http://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-pdf/74/4/926/31244460/fsw085.pdf

The ocean acidification (OA) literature is replete with laboratory studies that report species sensitivity to seawater carbonate chemistry in experimental treatments as an “effect of OA”. I argue that this is unintentionally misleading, since these studies do not actually demonstrate an effect of OA but rather show sensitivity to CO2. Documenting an effect of OA involves showing a change in a species (e.g. population abundance or distribution) as a consequence of anthropogenic changes in marine carbonate chemistry. To date, there have been no unambiguous demonstrations of a population level effect of anthropogenic OA, as that term is defined by the IPCC.