Tag Archives: Coral Reefs

Parrotfish key to saving Caribbean reefs

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Recent research published in the journal Nature by Peter Mumby and co-authors at the University of Exter (United Kingdom) and University of California shows that in the Caribbean, the parrotfish (see image on the left) plays a key role in preventing coral reefs from being dominated by macro-algae (Link to abstract). Following the mass mortality of sea-urchins across the Caribbean reefs in the early 1980’s due to an unknown disease, the majority of the grazing of macro-algae is conducted by the humble parrot fish (Link to Reuters article). Dr Mumby gave a fascinating seminar earlier this year at the University of Queensland entitled “Marine Protected Areas & Coral Reef Ecosystem Resilience” detailing this and other research from his team in this area:

http://152.98.194.2/seminars/petermumby/PeterMumby.mp4

New coral species identified in the Phillipines

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A recent news article citing by Professor Edgardo Gomez (University of the Phillipines Marine Science Institute) reports that new coral species are being discovered in the Kalayaan islands, Phillipines, such as Leptoseris kalayaanensis (a vase shaped coral similair to the Leptoseris on the left). Other findings presented by Professor Gomez at the Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management Program forum in the Phillipines recently included recording over 36 coral species in a square metre in Talim Bay- this is quite an astounding find in a country with a population of 88 million where only 4-5% of the reefs are listed in “excellent” condition! Given that the reefs in the region have been devastated by deforestation, overfishing (blast & cyanide fishing, and uptill 1986 the ever destructive muro-ami, now banned by Phillipine law) and widespread coral bleaching in 1998, Professor Gomez rightly points out “…we may be losing some species before we discover them. This is what we call invisible extinctions“.

Pacific ‘rubbish superhighway’ going unnoticed

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ABC News, 1st November 2007

A vast rubbish dump, which covers an area bigger than Australia, is floating in the Pacific Ocean and research shows it is growing bigger.

The rubbish collects in one area because of a clockwise trade wind that circulates around the Pacific rim.

In his Tasmanian-built research vessel, Captain Charles Moore has just returned from a trip through the plastic stew floating between Hawaii and San Francisco.

“Toothbrushes are quite common, plastic bags are quite common, soap bottles are quite common, we’ve been finding a good many umbrella handles, minus the umbrella,” he said.

“We find toolboxes, and oddly enough an item that seems to be quite prevalent now is plastic hard hats. I found one upside down with fish living in the upturned helmet.”

The rubbish patch is extremely remote – it takes a week to reach it in a boat.

Captain Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, says the eastern part of what is labelled the “Pacific Garbage Patch” is joined by a rubbish superhighway to a western collection of debris off Japan.

“We’re talking about an area larger than the continent of Australia,” he said.

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Australian Coral Reef Society conference

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I will be away at the ACRS conference in Fremantle, Western Australia for the next few days, where I will be presenting a talk titled “Coral Reef Futures: The low road is the only road” and will be posting updates to Climate Shifts from the conference where possible.

In the meanwhile, if anyone has any recommendations for stories worth blogging here at Climate Shifts, or would like to voice alternate opinions for discussion, comment below or email me at climateshifts@gmail.com.

A world with corals: What will it take?

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Heidi Schuttenberg (co-author of A Reef manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching) and I recently published a letter in Science entitled “A world with corals: What will it take?” (link to .pdf). We wrote this article in response to a “doomsday” newsfocus by Richard Stone (A world without corals – link to pdf), captioned “Besieged by pathogens, predators, and people, the ‘rainforests of the sea’ may soon face their ultimate foe: rising ocean acidity driven by CO2emissions”

Too often people opt for the “game over” or doomsday strategy when referring to climate change and coral reefs. My sentiments echo those of Heidi: “The future of reefs depends very much on what we do now: what we do to limit climate change & what we do to minimize local stressors to reefs. The resolutions passed at ITMEMS and ICRI build on innovative work in the science and management communities to articulate a meaningful agenda for building reef resilience to climate change. Courageous action to implement these recommendations is needed and justified.”

What are your thoughts on the topic? Please feel free to discuss this article or comment here.

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Corals are more than just “coral”

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I’ve updated the Science Review section of the blog with a new article entitled “Nitrogen fixation by symbiotic cyanobacteria provides a source of nitrogen for the scleractinian coral Montastraea cavernosa“. In short, the article shows that symbiotic cyanobacteria living within the tissues of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa are able to fix nitrogen, providing a previously unknown supplementary source of nutrition for the symbiotic zooxanthellae within the coral tissues. The more we delve into the physiology of the coral ‘holobiont’ (a term used to describe the coral host and the consortium of other organisms associating with it – zooxanthellae, bacteria, fungi, algae), the more pathways and surprises we find – corals are fascinating creatures. Read more here.

Global warming and the Acroporid decline in the Caribbean

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The Center for Science & Public Policy have released a document entitled Are U.S. Coral Reefs Endangered by Global Warming? , which is picking up a fair amount of controversy amongst all parties involved. I think this is a fairly important issue that needs to be resolved (debunking the pseudo-science): more from me on this shortly, along with analysis from coral researchers who have been examining this phenomenon for over three decades.

Updated:

Let’s start with the basics of the Center for Science-Based Public Policy (in the efforts of transparency). It’s all to easy to allege that the Centre is a mere puppet-front for petroleum industry propaganda, considering has received a grand total of $793,575 in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998 (not too dissimilar to our very own Australian right-wing “think tanks”, also funded by ExxonMobil subsidiaries).
Amongst other people of notoriety associated with the Center for Science-Based Public Policy is Senator James Inhofe who was awarded the “Center Honoree” in 2004. For those of you who don’t know Sen Inhofe’s legendary reputation, he is not only as a renowned climate change skeptic, but also the author of such famous quotes as:

“I don’t have to tell you about reading the Scriptures, but one of mine that I’ve always enjoyed is Romans 1, 22 and 23. You quit worshipping God and start worshipping the creation — the creeping things, the four-legged beasts, the birds and all that. That’s their (the environmentalists’) god. That’s what they worship. If you read Romans 1:25, it says, ‘and they gave up their God and started worshipping the creation.’ That’s what we are looking at now, that’s what’s going on. And we can’t let it happen.”

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Endangered coral becomes climate warning system – News from Ningaloo Reef

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Reuters Summit-Endangered coral becomes climate warning system

By James Grubel

CANBERRA, Oct 1 (Reuters) – The future is looking grim for coral reefs, home to bright tropical fish and a lure for tourists worldwide but also an early warning system for climate shift, leading coral scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg says.

Warming seas and increased ocean acidity will devastate more than 90 percent of the world’s corals over the coming century unless urgent action is taken, Hoegh-Guldberg told Reuters.

“You’ll get tougher corals surviving, but most of them are not tough enough to survive the sorts of temperatures we’re going to throw at them over the next 100 years,” Hoegh-Guldberg said.

The dire outlook points to a severe impact on tourism and the destruction of habitat for tropical fish, which are crucial to food supplies for millions of people around the world.

Hoegh-Guldberg, professor of marine science at Australia’s University of Queensland, has made a career studying tropical corals and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. But he is worried there may be little coral left for future generations.

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Reef restoration

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“Scientists try to save coral micro species”
U.S. scientists have launched a project in Puerto Rico designed to save threatened microscopic species. The Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo recently acquired 12,000 microscopic Elkhorn coral larvae harvested by zoo scientists as part of an international collaborative program to save the species. The researchers hope to return the animals, once they are grown, to their wild ocean habitat.

Zoo reproductive scientist Mary Hagedorn and invertebrate keeper Mike Henley traveled to Puerto Rico last month with to collect and artificially inseminate coral. Hagedorn is pioneering the cyropreservation of coral sperm and eggs, trying to create a genome resource bank that will help preserve the genetic diversity of coral.

“More subway cars slated for reefs”
More than 1,600 old New York City subway cars are destined for the deep where they will make up new artificial reefs off the Atlantic Coast. The MTA this week approved a $6.3 million contract to farm out the aging cars to reef projects off New Jersey, Delaware and other states, Newsday reported Saturday.

Officials say the cavernous cars that once hauled scores of Big Apple strap-hangers provide excellent shelter for young fish and also will make a great destination for recreational divers. The Long Island newspaper said some environmentalists are concerned about asbestos in some of the older cars despite a New Jersey study that concluded this week that cars used to create earlier reefs had minimal environmental impact.

CO2 emissions could violate EPA ocean-quality standards within decades

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In a commentary in the September 25, 2007, issue of the Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), a large team of scientists state that human-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will alter ocean chemistry to the point where it will violate U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Quality Criteria [1976] by mid-century if emissions are not dramatically curtailed now. This is the first recognition that atmospheric CO2 emissions will cause ocean waters to violate EPA water quality criteria.

 

The paper also says that carbon-dioxide induced “changes in ocean chemistry within the ranges predicted for the next decades and centuries present significant risks to marine biota” and that “adverse impacts on food webs and key biogeochemical process” would result.

 

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