Shirley joined the crew of PML's research ship, the RV MBA Sepia, on a trip to Plymouth Sound and the River Tamar on Friday (26 September) to undertake a short trawl to demonstrate the diversity of marine life in the area.
She was then given a tour of the labs, took part in an ocean acidification experiment and met Nobel Laureate, Dr Carol Turley, a microbial biologist, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Shirley said: "There is such a wealth of life under the sea that goes unnoticed. If we are not careful we will lose it before it's even discovered.
"I found the concept of acidification - the seas becoming saltier due to the shortage of CO2 - really alarming. This is something that I hope politicians and scientists will make a priority. It also highlights how we should all make efforts to cut our own carbon footprints and play our parts in reducing CO2."
PML is an independent, impartial provider of scientific research, contract services and advice for the marine environment, with a focus on understanding how marine ecosystems function and reducing uncertainty about the complex processes and structures that sustain life in the seas and their role in the Earth system. PML has a long history of investigating the causes and impacts of climate change on the oceans and more recently, the other less known CO2 problem of ocean acidification.
