Thecosome pteropods play a key role in the food web of various marine ecosystems and they calcify, secreting the unstable CaCO
3
mineral aragonite to form their shell material. Here, we have estimated the effect of ocean acidification on pteropod calcification by exploiting empirical relationships between their gross calcification rates (CaCO
3
precipitation) and aragonite saturation state
Ω
a
, combined with model projections of future
Ω
a
. These were corrected for modern model-data bias and taken over the depth range where pteropods are observed to migrate vertically. Results indicate large reductions in gross calcification at temperate and high latitudes. Over much of the Arctic, the pteropod
Limacina helicina
will become unable to precipitate CaCO
3
by the end of the century under the IPCC SRES A2 scenario. These results emphasize concerns over the future of shelled pteropods, particularly
L. helicina
in high latitudes. Shell-less
L. helicina
are not known to have ever existed nor would we expect them to survive. Declines of pteropod populations could drive dramatic ecological changes in the various pelagic ecosystems in which they play a critical role.
Aragonite saturation state dynamics in a coastal upwelling zone
