Just sharing the news. Appreciate your tanks.

[macdaddynick1]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ldwide-coral-bleaching-event-is-now-underway/

 

[DgenR8]

Who knows, maybe some day the hobby will repopulate the natural reefs.

 

[alton]

I wish the article would post the average temperatures that the oceans need to be to not have bleaching of corals, and what the temperatures are at the locations of the bleaching versus the non bleaching areas.

 

[ThRoewer]

Global warming is not the only reason for the bleaching and dying of corals:

How we are all contributing to the destruction of coral reefs: Sunscreen

This is the original scientific research publication:

Toxicopathological Effects of the Sunscreen UV Filter, Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), on Coral Planulae and Cultured Primary Cells and Its Environmental Contamination in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Abstract

Benzophenone-3 (BP-3; oxybenzone) is an ingredient in sunscreen lotions and personal-care products that protects against the damaging effects of ultraviolet light. Oxybenzone is an emerging contaminant of concern in marine environments"”produced by swimmers and municipal, residential, and boat/ship wastewater discharges. We examined the effects of oxybenzone on the larval form (planula) of the coral Stylophora pistillata, as well as its toxicity in vitro to coral cells from this and six other coral species. Oxybenzone is a photo-toxicant; adverse effects are exacerbated in the light. Whether in darkness or light, oxybenzone transformed planulae from a motile state to a deformed, sessile condition. Planulae exhibited an increasing rate of coral bleaching in response to increasing concentrations of oxybenzone. Oxybenzone is a genotoxicant to corals, exhibiting a positive relationship between DNA-AP lesions and increasing oxybenzone concentrations. Oxybenzone is a skeletal endocrine disruptor; it induced ossification of the planula, encasing the entire planula in its own skeleton. The LC50 of planulae exposed to oxybenzone in the light for an 8- and 24-h exposure was 3.1 mg/L and 139 µg/L, respectively. The LC50s for oxybenzone in darkness for the same time points were 16.8 mg/L and 779 µg/L. Deformity EC20 levels (24 h) of planulae exposed to oxybenzone were 6.5 µg/L in the light and 10 µg/L in darkness. Coral cell LC50s (4 h, in the light) for 7 different coral species ranges from 8 to 340 µg/L, whereas LC20s (4 h, in the light) for the same species ranges from 0.062 to 8 µg/L. Coral reef contamination of oxybenzone in the U.S. Virgin Islands ranged from 75 µg/L to 1.4 mg/L, whereas Hawaiian sites were contaminated between 0.8 and 19.2 µg/L. Oxybenzone poses a hazard to coral reef conservation and threatens the resiliency of coral reefs to climate change.

 

[AquaTDV]

"Unfortunately, as the planet’s oceans continue to absorb the bulk of the extra heat that is being contributed by global warming, the outlook for corals isn’t good. Already half of the world’s reefs have already been lost due to causes ranging from bleaching to pollution in the last 50 years, according to Eakin.

And a staccato of scientific studies have predicted continual decline of corals as warming ticks upward, one of them led by Hoegh-Guldberg in 2007. That report found that over the course of this century, as warming continues, “corals becoming increasingly rare on reef systems.”

And once corals die, the consequences are not easily reversible. “At best, you’re talking about a recovery time of 10 to 20 years,” says NOAA’s Eakin. “And most of these places are getting hit once every 5 years.” Some of the corals killed off can be several hundred years old."

Its passages like this from the article which screams RED FLAG to me. 50% of all reefs are gone. Really!!! Or is it 50% of the corals studied over a number of years are gone. Also it takes 10 to 20 years to repopulate a reef. I've hade the privilege of diving many reefs all over the world and many of the reefs were wiped out by a hurricane or some other natural event. However when I've returned just 4 years later its as if nothing has happened. The reef was as healthy and beautiful as it ever was. This may be circumstantial evidence, but then the author chose the words "at best 10 to 20 years." I am passionate about the environment, but I feel like a lot of research is advocacy research, not pure research if there is such a thing anymore. I'm just a little jaded after reading so many research papers in college and find massive holes in the research, or other people taking the "pure" research data and distorting the finding to fit their preconceived conclusions.

 

[homer1475]

Since this is the third event they have witnessed, it makes me wonder if this is a natural progression? The article didn't state if the reefs rebounded after the previous bleaching events.

 

[Lilbitreefer]

One really big problem that is also reeking havoc on the corals has to do with ocean acidification. Due to the increase in CO2 in the air much of it is being observed by the oceans causing the oceans to become more acidic.....you guys should know the rest of the schpeal about calcium and alkalinity. blah blah blah. That is one of the biggest problems. While in Panama at the smithsonian research institute in Bocas del Toro there was someone doing research on just that subject. Pretty awesome!

 

[chilli_reef]

Personally I feel its a part of a natural cycle.

 

[rjjr1963]

Argo sea buoy data indicates very little warming for nearly 20 years in the oceans.

 

[06bug]

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing. It will be interesting to see what is uncovered as more data is collected.