Biological impacts of ocean acidification (BIOACID)

Research on ocean acidification has seen a remarkable development over the past decade and has become one of the fastest growing fields of research in marine sciences. Today it is among the top three global ocean research priorities. As one of the largest German research programmes on ocean acidification, BIOACID has contributed to quantifying the effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms and their habitats, unravelling the mechanisms underlying the observed responses, assessing the potential for evolutionary adaptation, and determining how these responses are modulated by other environmental drivers.
BIOACID bridges between different branches of ocean acidification research and provide an assessment of short- to long-term responses and their underlying mechanisms at the level of organisms, populations, communities and ecosystems to multiple drivers leading up to ecosystem services. Synthesis activities will be structured into three major themes. Each of them covers the range from organism responses to community and ecosystem effects, to biogeochemical impacts and consequences for ecosystem services. Also, each theme will contribute to the Integrated Assessment, which includes risk assessment as well as the development of future scenarios, management options and offering policy advice.