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The global acidification of the earth's oceans is predicted to impact biodiversity via physiological effects impacting growth, survival, reproduction, and immunology, leading to changes in species abundances and global distributions. However, the degree to which these changes will play out critically depends on the evolutionary rate at which populations will respond to natural selection imposed by ocean acidification, which remains largely unquantified.

Oceans are warming and becoming more acidic. While higher temperature and lower pH can have negative effects on fertilisation and development of marine invertebrates, warming may partially ameliorate the negative effect of lower pH.