This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Monday 27 October 2008
Thinking About Coral
The Carnegie Institution at Stanford University has predicted that the increased acidity of seawater generated by human carbon dioxide-releasing activities is likely to result in the loss of 90% of coral reefs (http://www.ciw.edu/news/coral_reefs_unlikely_survive_acid_oceans). The reduced pH makes it impossible for the coral organisms to generate and maintain their impressive exoskeletons. Many other animals are dependent on the habitats created in the reef systems. Destruction of coral would occur even if the targets of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to levels thought appropriate to limit climate change (as currently advocated by the UK) were achieved. Losses of the reefs would have some quite devastating consequences on the viability of oceanic islands (in terms of food and protection from wave action).
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