The Potential Impact of Underwater Exhausted CO2 from Innovative Ships on Invertebrate Communities

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered ships equipped with an underwater exhaust system to reduce the ship’s water resistance could form a future generation of energy-efficient ships. The potential consequences of the underwater exhaust gas to the local ecosystems are still unknown. Especially, the CO...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Environmental Research 2019-08, Vol.13 (4), p.669-678
Main Authors: Wei, Yuzhu, Plath, Lara, Penning, Anne, van der Linden, Maartje, Murk, Albertinka J., Foekema, Edwin M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Benthos
Carbon dioxide
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecosystems
Energy efficiency
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental Management
Exhaust gases
Exhaust systems
Exposure
Food sources
Geoecology/Natural Processes
Invertebrates
Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning
Larvae
Levels
Liquefied natural gas
Mesocosm
Natural Hazards
Nutrients
ocean acidification
Periphyton
pH effects
Phytoplankton
Plankton
Research Paper
Ships
Snails
Underwater
Underwater exhaust
Water resistance
Zooplankton
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered ships equipped with an underwater exhaust system to reduce the ship’s water resistance could form a future generation of energy-efficient ships. The potential consequences of the underwater exhaust gas to the local ecosystems are still unknown. Especially, the CO 2 levels may locally exceed estimated future global levels. The present study exposes marine communities to a wide range of CO 2 dosages, resulting in pH 8.6–5.8 that was remained for 49 days. We found that the zooplankton and benthic community were adversely affected by high CO 2 exposure levels. In detail, (1) between pH 6.6 and 7.1 polychaete worms became the dominating group of the benthic community and their larvae dominated the zooplankton group. (2) Due to the reduced grazing pressure and the flux of nutrients from decaying organic material planktonic microalgae (phytoplankton) stared blooming at the highest exposure level. The periphyton (fouling microalgae) community was not able to take advantage under these conditions. (3) Marine snails’ (periwinkle) shell damage and high mortality were observed at pH 
ISSN:1735-6865
2008-2304
DOI:10.1007/s41742-019-00201-z