A scientist views a pteropod using a microscope which displays its image on screen in the marine laboratory at Ny-Ålesund. The pteropod, or "sea butterfly", is a small marine animal threatened by ocean acidification. Pteropods are a fundamental part of the food web, commonly consumed by by fish, seabirds and whales. Like shellfish, corals and other mollusks, they need calcium carbonate (arogonite) to form their shells and structures. However, increased CO2 emissions from human industry are causing ocean water to trend towards acidity, which is not only reducing the capability of these species to form shells, but actually causing existing shells to dissolve. Greenpeace is currently working with scientists from the German marine research institute IFM-GEOMAR to investigate ocean acidification, by deploying nine large "mesocosms" (experiment water enclosures) in Svalbard.