Totoosh Island, Washington is the site of intense biological scrutiny. Scientist are seeing a disturbing drop in the number of species there. This change could be a result of oceanic change globally. With the drop of species, researchers are noticing a significant drop of drop of gulls and murres. Also, only a few chicks hatched this spring. Also observed are mussel shells that are much thinner. This is not really surprising to scientist because they suspect that they are related to huge drops in the water pH as it absorbs excess Carbon Dioxide is released into the air in a great amount by the burning of fossil fuels for energy. When the carbon dioxide is released it alters the oceanic water chemistry. Barnacles, oysters and mussels have trouble surviving which causes other animals that eat those species to die off because of lack of food. While some species can survive this environment change many will not. This article was written on October 6, 2012 by Stacy Solie.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/us/scientists-in-washington-state-adopt-tiny-island-as-climate-change-bellwether.html?_r=1&hpw
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