Coral reefs like the Great Barrier Reef depend on a narrow set of environmental conditions within which they prosper. At the heart of their biology, is a symbiosis that they form with tiny plant-like organisms known as dinoflagellates (commonly called zooxanthellae). This symbiosis is critical to the survival of corals and coral reefs, making possible the efficient trapping of sunlight by reef-building corals. This allows them a cheap source of energy with which...
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Posts Tagged ‘ Coral Reefs ’
Great Barrier Reef Part 1: Current Conditions and Human Impacts
What’s the current state of the GBR (i.e. is it really “in fine fettle”)? Despite being one of the best managed marine ecosystems worldwide, there is evidence that the ecological ‘health’ of the Great Barrier Reef has declined since the arrival of European settlers into the Queensland region. This evidence comes from a number of key sources. This area is not without its controversy, which is discussed elsewhere at Skeptical Science by Professor John Bruno...
Is the End in Sight for The World’s Coral Reefs? by J.E.N. Veron
It is a difficult idea to fathom. But the science is clear: Unless we change the way we live, the Earth’s coral reefs will be utterly destroyed within our children’s lifetimes. by j.e.n. veron Over the past decades, there have dozens of articles in the media describing dire futures for coral reefs. In the 1960s and ‘70s, we were informed that many reefs were being consumed by a voracious coral predator, the crown-of-thorns starfish....
Scientists: Caribbean coral die-off may be worst ever
Scientists studying Caribbean reefs say that 2010 may be the worst year ever for coral death there. Abnormally warm water since June appears to have dealt a blow to shallow and deep-sea corals that is likely to top the devastation of 2005, when 80% of corals were bleached and as many as 40% died in areas on the eastern side of the Caribbean.So Eli Kintisch reports at Science online. He explains: Bleaching occurs when...