March 20, 2013 — If CO2-fueled acidity is the heartburn of the Chesapeake Bay, a little relief could be as close as the nearest oyster rock.
Authors of a new study on the corrosive effects of ocean acidity on mollusks say healthy reefs can be an antidote — an antacid of sorts — to help buffer the impact.
"Oyster shells are like slow-dissolving TUMS in the belly of the Chesapeake Bay," said the study's co-author Roger Mann of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, or VIMS. "As ocean water becomes more acidic, oyster shells begin to dissolve into the water, slowly releasing their calcium carbonate — an alkaline salt that buffers against acidity. An oyster reef is a reservoir of alkalinity waiting to happen."
Mann is a marine scientist at the Gloucester Point-based research and education center. The study —"Ecosystem effects of shell aggregations and cycling in coastal waters: An example of Chesapeake Bay oyster reefs" — appears in the journal "Ecology" of the Ecological Society of America.
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