Sad yet interesting...

Time running out for Great Barrier Reef: scientists

 

Even more reason for our hobby to be serious

 

Unfortunately, anytime articles like this are mentioned, people play ignorant or blame political agendas, so nothing productive ever gets accomplished. It's human nature, I suppose.

On a larger scale calcareous photo plankton, the bottom of the oceanic food chain, will suffer the same fate (from acidification).

I do want to point out that Earth has gone through rapid climatic shifts like this pretty routinely in it's recent and long term history; It's what has driven adaptation and biodiversity. Some corals are actually doing quite well (better in fact), with the warming temperatures. The acidification is a more concerning issue, however.

There is a former coral reef off of the coast of south Florida from a period when sea level extended 100s of miles from their current position; the last glacial maximum for instance (aprox. 10,000 years ago). There are several ancient reefs found on present day terrestrial crust, including at the top of many mountain ranges.

I have a degree in Environmental Science, btw.

 

What i am worried about is all the nuclear fallout from fukishima. Any one have any ideas how thats gonna effect the reefs? Starfish and corals melting and such.

 

I hate these kind of articles and the uproar they attempt to create.

First and formost, as alreayd mentioned, this is nothing new to our planet. As sad as it is to lose creatures and ecosystems such as the reef, certain coral or fish species, or even a tiger or elephant it is often a natural process. Humans hunting and polluting is one thing and it is terrible sad and inexcusable when we destroy a specific habitat or species for our own gain. "Global Warming" and climate change on the other hand is normal. We have had mass extinctions many times though our history where. Heck, if it wasnt for the mass die off of reptiles mammals would not have had a chance to evolve into what it is today!

This whole thing with CO2 gas being a main cause of global warming is a bunch of BS as well. Methane gas produced from cows and bubbles up from the ocean floor contributes far more to increasing temps than your cars CO2 emissions.

Not saying losing the Great Barrier Reef wouldnt be a terribly sad event. Hopefully it does not happen, but driving your car less is not going to prevent this. Advancedaquarists published an article of a reef in waters that were very acidic that should be doing terribly that is actually thriving and evolving at an amazing rate. Even though their coral skeletons should be breaking down due to the pH of the water, they are growing for an unknown reason. Maybe we need to give corals some credit as they have survived many ice ages and warm ups and are some of the oldest simplist creatures on our planet. We need to stop polluting and dropping anchors on these reefs causing massive damagae to the corals. Increase captive breeding of fish and corals and stop massive collection techniques that are causign such a profound impact on our reefs. This will do soo much more than worrying about global warming. Hey, even if a reef dies somewhere due to climate change it does not mean another one wont pop up somewhere else where the new conditions are mroe favourable.

 

There was a time (500 million years ago) when certain types of organisms began to flourish and "polluted" our carbon rich atmosphere with oxygen.

It's a type of organism we're all pretty familiar with too. They belong to the kingdom, Plantae.

I also want to point out that a vast majority of Earth's carbon is underneath our feet, trapped as continental crust. Coral reefs and calcareous organisms have acted as "sinks" for carbon. As they die, they settle as sediment. Plate tectonics have caused this sediment to be subducted and stored within earth's interior, only to be let out again during volcanic activity. This is another process that shapes and changes climate that isn't organism driven.

Same with orbital (Milankovich cycles) changes and solar output; They've driven glacial/interglacial periods.