medium · LSAT Reading Comprehension
Ocean acidification is a direct consequence of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), as much of the excess gas is absorbed by the world's oceans. When CO2 dissolves in seawater, it forms carbonic acid, which subsequently releases hydrogen ions, lowering the pH. This process also consumes carbonate ions, which are essential building blocks for calcifying organisms like pteropods (tiny sea snails). Pteropods are a foundational component of the polar food web, serving as a primary food source for fish and birds. As carbonate ion concentrations drop, it becomes energetically more difficult for these organisms to maintain their calcium carbonate shells. In extreme conditions, the surrounding water can become corrosive enough to cause existing shells to dissolve. This shift in chemistry threatens not only individual species but the stability of entire marine ecosystems that rely on calcifiers at the base of the food chain.
Based on the passage, which of the following situations would be most analogous to the challenge faced by pteropods in an acidifying ocean?
- Masons trying to raise a stone wall in a setting where chemical runoff steadily weakens and erodes their mortar.
- A land snail that struggles to find enough to eat after an invasive insect strips most leaves from its forest home.
- A deep-sea fish driven steadily into shallower water because its usual home range has turned far too cold to survive in.
- A coral reef growing unusually fast and with little effort thanks to a long summer of more daylight hours than is normal.
- Surface-dwelling pteropods being eaten in far greater numbers as the fish and bird populations that prey on them expand.
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