70 Engineering Response to Climate Change
preindustrial levels (pH of 8.1). To make calcium carbonate, creatures need
two ingredients: calcium ions and carbonate ions. When carbon dioxide gets
dissolved in water, it results in carbonic acid. This acid disassociates and
reacts with carbonate ions, making them unavailable. Depleting the ocean of
the important compounds that organisms need to build their exoskeletons
and shells will disrupt the lifetime and even maybe existence of corals, sea
urchins, sea stars, crabs, phytoplankton, and other marine creatures. This,
in turn, would create an imbalance of minerals and food for sh and other
predators and entirely threaten their habitat and the entire food chain. Coral
reefs are more susceptible ...