By Alison Ballance
Marine biologists are warning that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing the world's oceans to acidify, and that this may have significant impacts on marine organisms that build shells from lime. Abby Smith is a marine biogeochemist in the Marine Studies Department at the University of Otago. She discusses her work with bryozoans, and explains why ocean acidification could be the next global environmental catastrophe.
To find out more about ocean acidification check out Wikipedia, read the Royal Society's policy document and the briefing document produced for the Australian Government at the 2008 Hobart conference.
