Rapid environmental change over the past decade revealed by isotopic analysis of the California mussel in the northeast Pacific.

ABSTRACT: The anthropogenic input of fossil fuel carbon into the atmosphere results in increased carbon dioxide (CO(2)) into the oceans, a process that lowers seawater pH, decreases alkalinity and can inhibit the production of shell material. Corrosive water has recently been documented in the northeast Pacific, along with a rapid decline in seawater pH over the past decade. A lack of instrumentation prior to the 1990s means that we have no indication whether these carbon cycle changes have precedence or are a response to recent anthropogenic CO(2) inputs. We analyzed stable carbon and oxygen isotopes (δ(13)C, δ(18)O) of decade-old California mussel shells (Mytilus californianus) in the context of an instrumental seawater record of the same length. We further compared modern shells to shells from 10

SUBMITTER: Pfister CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3185010 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature