By Alla Katsnelson
The pteropod Limacina helicina, sometimes referred to as a sea butterfly, has a translucent shell and a pair of swimming wings called parapodia, and is plentiful in polar seas.
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This month, two California scientists will spend hours wading waist-deep through -2°C water on an Antarctic beach near McMurdo Research Station. Using scoops constructed from plastic beakers secured to the ends of broom handles, Victoria Fabry of the California State University, San Marcos, and Gretchen Hofmann of the University of California, Santa Barbara, will collect thousands of tiny, shelled planktonic mollusks called pteropods.
As the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide, its acidity rises. Fabry has shown that when the ocean becomes more acidic, ...
