Latest Human impact on coral reefs Stories
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Rising temperatures associated with climate change have already been shown to have an effect on a wide range of ecosystems and the creatures that reside within. Recent studies have now added coral reefs to the list of ecosystems that may be damaged as a result of climate change. Judging from new maps and models, the rising sea temperatures, which accompany climate change, could result in more frequent coral bleaching events, causing...
[ Watch the Video: Picky Eater Fish Endanger Coral Reefs ] Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Few pet owners would expect their dog or cat to clean up the house, and anyone who has ever camped in places such as Yellowstone Park knows that bears can visit and will leave a campsite in worse shape than they found it. Fish on the other hand could actually be doing some good in cleaning up coral reefs. A recent study conducted in the Fiji Islands found that four species...
China’s coral reefs have suffered a devastating 80 per cent decline in recent decades, driven mainly by the country’s unrestrained economic development, according to a new international scientific study. The first comprehensive survey of the state of corals along mainland China and in the South China Sea reports a grim picture of decline, degradation and destruction resulting from coastal development, pollution and overfishing. A new study by Professor Terry Hughes and Matthew Young...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world's largest coral reef, and the only living thing on Earth that is visible from space. The Great Barrier Reef is approximately 3000 kilometers long and up to 65 kilometers wide in some places. According to new research from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS ), the Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its coral cover in the last 27 years. The research team attributes this...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Overfishing and nitrate pollution can destroy coral reefs by allowing an overgrowth of algae that brings with it unwanted pathogens, chokes off oxygen and disrupts helpful bacteria. These are the findings of a new study out of the Oregon State University, published recently in PLoS One. Large algal species, or "macroalgae," are big enough to essentially smother corals. These macralgae grow at accelerated rates when sewage waste...
Marine conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society working with other coral reef experts have identified heat-tolerant coral species living in locations with continuous background temperature variability as those having the best chance of surviving climate change, according to a new simplified method for measuring coral reef resilience. Therefore, coral reefs with these characteristics should receive immediate attention for conserving this highly threatened ecosystem, according...
As global warming heats up the Earth’s oceans, one ecosystem stands to be severely threatened: Coral reefs. However, new research has given scientists to be hopeful about the fate of these coral reefs. An international team of researchers has studied a coral population in South-East Asian waters that had survived a bleaching event. What was significant about this reef was that it had also survived another bleaching event 12 years earlier in 1998. The researchers published their...
