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Brittlestars can survive acid oceans

nature.com — As carbon dioxide levels rise, most researchers have assumed that increasingly acidic oceans will compromise the calcification processes of ocean organisms.But new results show that one delicate species, a brittlestar, actually bumps up the speed of shell production, or calcification, under such conditions.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 9, 2008

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  • DeFex, on 05/09/2008, -2/+43Damn i thought it said "Battlestars"
    thats good news though.
  • psylence, on 05/09/2008, -0/+25Frack that.
  • Pixelante, on 05/09/2008, -0/+19What about Basestars?
  • atezun, on 05/09/2008, -1/+11This fall on Sci-Fi "Brittlestar Galactica". Going where Battlestar dared not go, underwater!

    Mmm, cylons in wet suits.
  • whodoes, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9Thats EXACTLY what happened to me. Lord, Im a huge nerd....
  • shinyhappydan, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Brittlestar Aquatica
  • getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -2/+7Brittlestar Galactica?
  • kd420, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Further evidence that we wont destroy the world by global warming, just ourselves. The earth was, and will be here when were gone. All that it comes down to now is whether were smart and fast enough to survive.
  • brainflakes, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Did the submitted not actually read the article?? The summary seems to infer that brittlestars will do better under a more acidic ocean, but if you read the article it states the opposite (even the subtitle, "But the biological cost of maintaining their skeletons may be too high.")

    "But although the regenerated arms were apparently more robust in the more acidic water, the muscles inside all of their arms — the regenerated ones and the original ones — contained large empty spaces. Since brittlestars use their arms to collect food and burrow, the researchers speculate that the reduction in muscle will affect survival."

    "'They are overcompensating,' says Wood. And in the long term, the muscular and metabolic strains will 'create a deficit they can't maintain', she says."
  • zadadka, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3As any scuba enthusiast will tell you, beds of Brittlestars are just a joy to drift-dive over...multicoloured, waving two or three arms in the air (well, water, anyway) to capture food...and where there's Brittlestars, other life is always in abundance at the peripheries of the beds.
    At least in Southern UK, anyway (Kimmeridge FTW).
  • Terr01, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3They have five legs! OMG SYMBOLISM!
  • sirloxelroy, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4OK, I am not awake, I thought this said Battlestars.
  • CiXeL, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2they dont mind being in anerobic aquarium conditions such as pockets of decaying deritus in aquarium sand or at the bottom of mucky harbors so it makes sense.
  • polygons, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2So say we all.
  • DrDragun, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Something will always live, like the iconic cockroach after nuclear winter. Biodiversity is really what you lose, and it cannot be replaced by humans. It takes millions of years to return. Earth has had plenty of mass extinctions in the past where 20%-50% or more of the species have suddenly gone extinct. It always takes tens of millions of years to replenish.

    Basically we're talking about living in a world with all kinds of mysterious creatures we don't understand, or living in a world with plenty of rats, pidgeons, and (apparently) brittle stars. Survivor species.
  • thepretext, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Brittlestars are the last of the Final Five!
  • wyrag, on 05/06/2009, -0/+2haha glad to see im not the only one who was expecting a bsg article
  • getoffmybridge, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2The Brittlestar Aquatic with Steve Zissou?
  • johnnysaucepn, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Some of the earth will remain. Mass extinction is still not really something we should be happy about. Besides, you assume that carbon dioxide is the only toxic crap we're pumping into the oceans.
  • radiantstorm, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1So, it's GOOD that we're forcing these creatures to develop bigger shells? Like I want super callouses on my feet. WTF?
  • longchamp, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I have dozens of these things in my saltwater aquarium... they're impossible to kill. I think you'd use something thats a little more delicate to gauge the effect on the oceans. It's like saying "Oh, every volcano erupted and everything's dead, but hey! Roaches are still alive!"
  • groone, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Wow, now I can finish the day.
  • Culyt, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Maybe they will be able to avoid the Cylons there, they might rush underwater.
  • gmiley, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1The thing is, there have been mass extinctions in the past, there will be more in the future regardless of if we cause them or not. Something I learned a while back about mass extinctions is, it just makes the survivors that much more durable, and prevents stagnation. New species arise, old ones die off. If we want to preserve how we are now, the only way to do that is to get ourselves off of this rock and spread out to new homes.
  • inactive, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2No, no, no. This is evil. We must continue to assume that man is a destructive force on the planet only leaving rubble and decay.
  • sigg14, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1buried as inaccurate
  • sfacets, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Oh god, I thought it said Battlestars... Gotta stop drinking Pepsi in the morning.
  • Optimus, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You just keep on wastin'!
  • babylonian, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Digg. Grolar bears. Brittlestar Galactica.
  • JasonCox, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Dugg because I thought this was about taking the Adama Maneuver to a whole new level.
  • sandbags, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0huh? it would appear you have tried some of them yourself.....
  • thepretext, on 05/09/2008, -2/+0Brittlestar Oceana.
  • Mier, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1Oh look more hysteria on parade. No wonder there's so many psychotropic drugs on sale around the world.

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