Dive Into Your Imagination

Dr. Lisa Suatoni is an ocean scientist who helps take scientific discoveries and turn them into laws that will protect the ocean! Find out about ocean acidification, and how her team at the NRDC is fighting this growing problem.

Why do you love the ocean, and what is your favorite ocean animal?

I love the ocean because it’s like a secret world here on earth. I never really knew it existed until I was older. I love marine invertebrates - jellyfish, nudibranchs, and siphonophores. Siphonophores look a little like jellyfish, but are actually a colony of organisms all put together into one organism - they take on usual shapes. The first time I saw one, I thought it was from outer space!

How has studying ecology (the way living things interact with each other and the environment) and evolutionary biology (how species have changed or “evolved” over time) prepared you to study the ocean?

These studies are the sciences that allowed me to continue what I loved to do as a kid. For as long as I can remember, I have loved critters. I grew up in Pennsylvania, where I was landlocked, and I spent hours in the woods collecting reptiles, amphibians, etc. And I have never stopped! By watching TV, I fell in love with Jacque Cousteau and his adventures. When I was 16, I got SCUBA certified - that’s what sold me on the ocean. It’s like exploring a whole new world!

You are currently an ocean scientist for the Natural Resource Defense Council in New York. What is the NRDC?

The NRDC is a national, non-governmental environmental organization. We work to create and enforce environmental law in the U.S. and internationally. Lawyers, policy experts, and scientists all work together for common goals. We have offices in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as one in Beijing, China!

What is your role as a NRDC ocean scientist?

I work with NRDC’s ocean programs to preserve and restore ocean ecosystems. I am the scientist within a team of policy experts, lobbyists, and lawyers - I incorporate science into lawmaking! My job within the group is to provide advice about various aspects of marine science. Together, we try to shape and enforce environmental laws.

It is a wonderful idea to have people with various backgrounds and strengths work together for a meaningful cause. Why do you think it is important to focus on policies?

I love this job because it helps put significant scientific discoveries and knowledge to use. It is important to work with policies in this way because major environmental laws in this country have been able to protect water, clean air, natural ecosystems, and endangered species. We need to continue to write laws and make sure the government enforces them.

What projects are you currently working on?

I’m working on ocean acidification and climate change, but also fisheries management and how to properly manage fish populations. We need to make sure healthy populations of fish exist.

What is ocean acidification?

Ocean acidification is a fascinating phenomenon because it is a second consequence of burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gasoline), in addition to climate change. One of the outcomes of burning fossil fuels is increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The ocean then absorbs much of this CO2, making the ocean more acidic. Unlike climate change, this phenomenon has been overlooked by scientists and policy makers and we are just beginning to discuss what we should do about it.

This is dangerous because it alters the chemical structure of the ocean. How does ocean acidification affect the creatures that live underwater?

Calcium carbonate is a material used throughout the ocean, and acidic oceans make this material less available. Calcium carbonate is used to make seashells, so everything that makes a home from shells will struggle a little harder, and they’ll have to live in a home that is of poorer quality, more brittle, and more delicate. This is a big deal because there are so many organisms that use calcium carbonate, including coral, clams, mussels, crabs, shrimps, and barnacles. Tiny plankton and other animals at the bottom of the food chain use calcium carbonate as well.

What are the effects on coral reefs?

Scientists are very worried about coral reefs because they are being affected by so many factors, including overfishing, pollution, acidification and global warming. For example, you have likely heard of coral bleaching. When there’s a heat wave in the ocean, and the temperature rises above normal for over a week, corals lose the algae that lives with them, causing coral to lose their color and sometimes die – this is called bleaching. Scientists believe that the combination of all of these stresses will likely cause corals to go extinct - at least in their present form as coral reefs - in the next 100 years.

Oh no! Are there any solutions to ocean acidification? Can it be reversed?

Acidification is not reversible; at least not reversible over reasonable time scales. The oceans are too big to put anything in them to reverse the effects of CO2. It’s going to take tens of thousands of years for the ocean to recover, and that is even if we stop putting CO2 in the atmosphere.

The only solution for acidification is to decrease the amount of CO2 we are putting in the atmosphere by decreasing the amount of fossil fuels we burn. This solution involves finding alternate sources of energy. However, one thing we should do during this transition is to improve the health of ocean ecosystems so that they are more likely to "weather the storm." At this point, we need to treat the ocean like a patient in the hospital. Doctors do not send very ill patients into surgery. They wait until the patients are healthy and strong enough to survive the surgery. We need to make ocean ecosystems, which are degraded from years of neglect, more healthy as we learn to face climate change and ocean acidification.

What is the NRDC doing to help make the ocean healthy?

In addition to fighting for sustainable fishing practices and controlling water pollution, NRDC is supporting the creation of protected areas in the ocean - just like we have national parks and wilderness areas on land. If we could set aside some areas free from fishing, pollution dumping, and other stresses, we can have areas that are healthy and thriving. These areas will be much more likely to survive the upcoming years of acidification.

What action is most important for someone who wants to help save the ocean, and our planet?

Because the oceans are suffering from so many stresses, I think that there is no single best action. Here are my top four.
1. Eat fish that are caught from sustainable fisheries.
2. Avoid using lawn fertilizer. Use “green” lawn care practices instead!
3. Carry reusable cloth shopping bags. Say no to plastic! Lots of marine life are killed every year from plastic bags.
4. Save energy and fuel. Even though we don’t think that driving to the store 5 times a day isn’t hurting the coral, it is. Use florescent light bulbs, turn off the computer when you stop using it, walk and bike.

These are some great tips. If everyone could follow these suggestions, the ocean will be a much healthier for years to come. Lastly, what advice would you give to a budding scientist?

Study what gets you excited, not necessarily what seems important, because everything turns out to be important. Slow down and take time to observe what you’re interested in. Field biologists take time to really watch.

Thank you so much, Lisa! We wish you and your NRDC team the best of luck as you fight for the health of our oceans. Keep up the good work!

Biography:

Dr. Lisa Suatoni is a senior scientist in the oceans program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She works on a variety of topics, including fisheries, marine-ecosystem based management, climate change impacts on marine ecosystems, and ocean acidification. Lisa has a master’s degree in Environment Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University. Here, her scientific research focused on speciation and the evolution of reproductive isolation.

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