Historical baselines and the future of shell calcification for a foundation species in a changing ocean

Type: 
Literature
Publication: 
Historical baselines and the future of shell calcification for a foundation species in a changing ocean. University of Chicago. 2016.
Year Published: 
2016
Organization: 
University of Chicago
Description: 

Increasing ocean acidity from climate change is one cause of thinning California mussel shells, according to a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. University of Chicago biologists compared the thickness of modern mussel shells with those collected in the past, some thousands of years ago by Native Americans, and found that the old shells were 27-94% thicker.

Category: 
climate science, fisheries, ocean acidification, Pleistocene era, shellfish, shell midden