Scientists at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) examined 14 black coral species collected between 10 and 396 meters around Hawai’i. Surprisingly 71% of the species examined were found to contain photosynthetic algae, even at depths approaching 400 meters. The penetration of sunlight at depths over 100 meters is extremely poor. The question therefore is what are these algae doing down there?
Archive for the 'General Reef News' Category
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Nature and the services it provides are worth trillions of dollars annually to human society, and governments and businesses must formally recognise this to halt the continuing degradation of the natural world, a groundbreaking UN report said yesterday.
The enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic consequences of their loss, must be factored into political and economic policies in all countries, according to the new study by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. It suggests, for example, that the value of human welfare benefits provided by coral reefs is between $30bn (£19bn) and $172bn annually.
Read an article in The Independant
A new United Nations report urges a global partnership, backed by commitment and resources, to tackle the threats posed to coral reefs by climate change, including damage from increasingly severe tropical cyclones and ocean acidification.
Read about the report in Web Newswire
International marine scientists say that a catastrophic bleaching event which has struck Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean reefs over recent months could be the worst such event since 1998. Coral coverage in the area could drop from 50% to 10% and may take years to recover.
See Full Article in Science Daily.
Coral reef loss provides a clear link to human poverty, conservationists argued at the recent Millennium Development Goals session at UN HQ.
The large scale bloom that occured in the Gulf of Oman in Oct / Nov 2008 has now been shown to have caused widescale damage to corals in the area. Harmful algal blooms, often linked to human pollution and agricultural run-off, are predicted to rise significantly in coming years and pose a serious threat to fragile coral ecosystems. A recent report in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, entitled: “Tropical harmful algal blooms: An emerging threat to coral reef communities?” discusses details.
Read the original report (requires subscription to journal).
A recent report by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington discuss how scuba divers, diving in marine protected areas (MPAs) can contribute to the costs of maintaining the MPAs. The report is entitled: “The role of SCUBA diver user fees as a source of sustainable funding for coral reef marine Protected areas.”
This report highlights the fact that in most most cases, no contribution is made by divers towards the maintenance of the areas in which they dive. This is despite a willingness on the part of divers to help. Additionally, dive tourism can generate employment & significant income within local communities. They discuss in details amounts that could be charged as well as going into cost / benefit analysis.
So are we all missing a trick?
It’s seaweed vs. sponge in battle for dying coral reefs.
The spread of a large sponge species could provide a buffer to the dramatic decline of corals on reefs in the Florida Keys and Caribbean, scientists say.
“There’s a turf war going on under the warm waters off the Florida Keys, a battle for no less than dominance of dying coral reef tracts.”
Read the Full Article in the Miami Herald.
Scientists returning from a 30-day research expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands found what they believe are 10 new species of coral.
Read the Full Article by The Associated Press.
Coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans are dying off much quicker than previously thought, a new study shows. For the last two decades, Indo-Pacific reefs have shrunk by 1 percent each year—a loss equivalent to nearly 600 square miles (1,553 square kilometers). That makes the rate of reef loss about twice the rate of tropical rain forest loss. The research also revealed that the decline began in the late 1960s—much earlier than had been assumed.
Read the Full Article in National Geographic