By John Roach Corals are soft-bodied organisms that thrive in warm, shallow ocean waters. But Langdon found that corals are unable to acclimate to reduced carbonate levels over prolonged periods. Corals are tiny, soft-bodied organisms that thrive in large colonies in warm, shallow ocean waters. They secrete a substance called calcium carbonate to build skeletons that form reefs. Reefs in turn host ecosystems that are as diverse as rain forests and serve as natural breakwaters that prevent beach erosion.
Carbon dioxide reacts with carbonate to produce bicarbonate.
The result is less carbonate available for corals to combine with calcium to form calcium carbonate. Less calcium carbonate translates to weaker coral reefs, less biodiversity and greater beach erosion. If carbon dioxide increases by 30 percent, you get a 30 percent reduction in growth. At the Biosphere 2 Center outside Tucson, Arizona, researchers conduct experiments to determine how Earth's ecosystems will react to changing conditions. By 2065, carbon dioxide levels are expected to be twice what they were before the Industrial Revolution.