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This small shellfish has a superpower.

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Not only can oysters make pearls out of grains
of sand and taste incredible on the half shell.

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They can also completely transform their environment.

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One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of
water in a single day, leaving it cleaner and

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healthier.

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These amazing shellfish are like the natural
cleaning crew of the ocean.

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But ocean acidification and other climate-related changes are threatening oyster populations,

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which could be problematic for their entire
ocean ecosystem.

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The world's oceans work like a giant sponge
soaking in heat energy and carbon dioxide

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from the atmosphere.

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And while this may actually help to mitigate
some of the effects of climate change on land

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that extra heat and co2 is affecting the natural
chemical balance of the ocean.

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And so all that carbon dioxide that we put
into the atmosphere, about a third of it goes

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straight into the ocean.

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And that carbon dioxide is fundamentally changing
the chemistry of the ocean, and that's the

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phenomenon that we call ocean acidification.

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And how this acidification or change in the
ocean's pH balance is going to impact the

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ocean's smallest creatures is a major focus of
Dr. Hill's research.

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So what we see in laboratory experiments that
we've done here at the Bodega Marine Lab is

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that the more and more acidic the water gets,
the stronger negative response you get from animals.

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Animals like oysters and mussels
tend to grow smaller, thinner shells.

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25 miles down the road from Dr. Hill's lab, oyster
farmer Terry Sawyer was noticing something

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similar with his oysters - that they were dying
at higher rates, and at the deaths were in

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correlation with high acidification of the
water where they were growing.

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So when Terry and Dr. Hill met at a conference,
something clicked.

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So Dr. Hill and I were like looking at each
other like wait...

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Dr. Hill is based out of Bodega Laboratory
just in the north of here 45 minutes away,

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we're here, we're in the water all the time.

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We do a lot of

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thinking about sort of how to translate that
work from what we know about the native oyster

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to the oysters that they are growing

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at the farm.

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With the resources and daily data
Terry and his team are able to gather in the

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farm, they're able to track in real time how
water chemistry is impacting oyster yields,

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which obviously benefits Terry's business,
but can also lead to a greater understanding

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of the world's marine life.

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And what that data
is showing is that the high carbon dioxide

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levels are making it difficult for oysters
to grow their shells.

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And if oysters can't grow strong shells many
won't survive to maturity, which means a blow

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to the oyster economy, but also to the health
of our oceans.

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Lowering of the pH.

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the acidifying of the water is directly related
to the amount of co2 that's produced by the

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anthropogenic activities, burning of fossil
fuel, co2, greenhouse gases, etc.

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All of these things are being produced by
a lot of activities we have.

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What happens is the carbon dioxide mixes into
the surface water of the ocean and forms carbonic acid.

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This then dissolves into bicarbonate and
a whole bunch of extra hydrogen ions.

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It's these hydrogen ions that cause the real
problem here.

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As animals are trying to build their shell
material, they're actually pulling the building

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blocks of that shell material out of the water
column.

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And so they're building their shell from,
for example, a calcium ion and a carbonate ion.

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Marine bivalves like

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oysters combine the calcium ions and the
carbonate ions into solid crystals of calcium

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carbonate that they use to form their shells,
but hydrogen ions from the dissolved co2 in

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the ocean have a tendency to bond with the
carbonate ions, leaving fewer available for

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the newly spawned oysters.

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The vulnerable stages of any organism are
at the larval stage.

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And so if you start affecting how hard it
is for that organism to live. In this case

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for an oyster to build a shell, then that's
going to lead to problems with it being able

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to be a viable organism.

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Basically, the more energy the oyster has
to waste competing with hydrogen ions for

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shell material, the less energy it has for
growing big and strong.

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It can also result in a weaker shell,

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so that shell now is compromised where it's
too thin or breaks easily, then it can no

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longer seal itself out, seal that that poor
water quality out and they will not be viable.

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Terry and Dr. Hill are also working together
to actually simulate future water conditions

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in the lab, in order to try to predict what
may happen to oysters

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in the coming decades,

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We built almost a decade ago, built an experimental
setup that kind of operates like a time machine.

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We can dial in today's carbon dioxide values
in a tank.

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And then in the tank next door we can actually
ramp it up and maybe put the carbon dioxide

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concentrations that you'd see in 100 years

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with acidification levels rising 30% since
the Industrial Revolution, it's critical to

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be tracking the problem now, and try to work
on how to be ready for

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the future.

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Oftentimes when you hear about ocean acidification,

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it seems like this sort of distant chemical
problem that the ocean is experiencing.

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And if you go to Hog Island Oyster Company
and you have, you know you're sitting at a

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picnic table and you have lunch sitting in
front of you, all the sudden we can talk about

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ocean acidification in a way that's about
a family business, and a coastal economy,

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and the food on our plates, and a future that
we want for our kids.

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This data from the lab and the data collected
by instruments placed at the farm itself,

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all help Terry address acidification by knowing
precisely when the pH differences lead to

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high mortality rates.

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From this, he can figure
out which oyster strains are more resilient

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than others.

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But this won't solve the problem outright.

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In the end it all comes down to the carbon
dioxide that's blasting nonstop into the atmosphere

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and getting soaked up by the ocean.

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I think ocean acidification is a problem that
we can confront and change the course of the

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problem.

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So, just like the other issues that we are
dealing with with climate change, the fundamental

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issue is our carbon dioxide emissions.

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More people need to be aware of this and what
has change look like.

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It actually means a lot of changes in our
behaviors.

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And that means everything from efficiencies,
on how we run our heating systems to producing

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electricity as to how we get around.

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And I think the other part of this is just
know that the collective energy would have

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an amazing impact.

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And I think that's really the important part
is that there is something that people can do