Rising Carbon Dioxide Could Spell Doom for Antarctic Food Chain

Researchers from Australia discovered that krill exposed to atmospheric carbon dioxide at the levels predicted for the year 2100 suffered fertility-harming deformities. As this article mentions, the general public doesn't have the same affinity for krill, a shrimp-like crustacean, that it does for whales and penguins, but without krill, those species will not survive. The absorption of carbon dioxide into the ocean is called ocean acidification, and is clearly a serious threat to ocean life. Krill is a small organism, yet is an integral part of the Antarctic food web.