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Healthy Planet Marine Studies Initiative

Acidification Likely to Intensify

West coast waters are likely to see continued impacts from acidification, warming temperatures and low-oxygen conditions. That’s the conclusion of a report in the journal BioScience co-authored by Francis Chan in the Oregon State College of Science.

WEST COAST WATERS are likely to see continued impacts from acidification, warming temperatures and low-oxygen conditions. That’s the conclusion of a report in the journal BioScience co-authored by Francis Chan in the Oregon State College of Science.

“The changes really stem from the basic impact to physiology, no voodoo involved,” says Chan. “We need to look at ocean acidification not just as one stressor, but that it’s going to be affecting organisms in the context of other things.”

Chan is co-chair and one of five OSU scientists on the West Coast Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel, which advises policymakers on increasing acidity in coastal ecosystems.

By Nick Houtman

Nick Houtman is director of research communications at OSU and edits Terra, a world of research and creativity at Oregon State University. He has experience in weekly and daily print journalism and university science writing. A native Californian, he lived in Wisconsin and Maine before arriving in Corvallis in 2005.