Climate change and tropical marine ecosystems: A review with an emphasis on coral reefs

The most direct consequence of rising CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is "ocean acidification," a term that refers to the lowering of seawater pH, but encompasses a suite of chemical changes that affect marine organisms from shell formation, to reproduction, physiology, and behavior.

The oceans are also warming in pace with the atmosphere, and in fact store the vast majority of the additional heat generated by rising CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This warming is causing the more mobile marine species to redistribute poleward and deeper, and is causing high mortality in more sessile species such as those that build and habituate coral reefs. But warming is also leading to a decrease in dissolved oxygen in the oceans.