Scientists believe carbon dioxide bursts from industry and land run off could cause irreparable damage to marine ecosystems after tests found acute levels of the gas cause starfish to dissolve.
A team of marine scientists conducted a four-day experiment at Loch Sween on Scotland's west coast to measure the response to short-term carbon dioxide exposure.
Previously, tests had focused on the effect high levels of the gas had on individual plants or animals, leaving a gap in knowledge about how whole marine ecosystems respond to sudden influxes of carbon dioxide.
Researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Glasgow University pumped water enriched with carbon dioxide into chambers placed over the coralline algal ecosystem and monitored the community's response before, during and after exposure.
The experiment revealed acute exposure led to net dissolution, meaning calcified organisms such as the coralline algae and starfish were dissolving.
Heidi Burdett, Heriot-Watt University research fellow, said: "We found that there was a rapid, community-level shift to net dissolution, meaning that within that community, the skeletons of calcifying organisms like starfish and coralline algae were dissolving."
Burdett and her team believe more research is necessary but that carbon dioxide exposure should be taken into account by policymakers.
The research is published in the Marine Progress Ecology Series.
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