More bad news

[duec22]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330...vcLddCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-

 

[fish lad]

oh well

crap happens

 

[tacocat]

Huh? Not in my tank. More like an inch a month.

"The mortality that we're seeing now is of the extremely slow-growing reef-building corals. These are corals that are the foundation of the reef ... We're talking colonies that were here when Columbus came by have died in the past three to four months."

Some of the devastated coral can never be replaced because it only grows the width of one dime a year, Miller said.

 

[duec22]

I was wondering what coral they were talking about in that statement. I really think that the speed at wich coral grow under good conditions is really skewed in reseacheres minds. Why I don't know...it could be that when a lot of this reseach was done they were not able to effectively keep coral in captivity.

 

[RxBandit]

The prognosis is not good," said biochemistry professor M. James Crabbe of the University of Luton near London. In early April, he will investigate coral reef mortality in Jamaica. "If you want to see a coral reef, go now, because they just won't survive in their current state."

So wait, let me get this straight....we have only a little while left before all the coral reefs die. For some reason I think I would call shenanigans on that statement. Somehow I have a problem beliving that surface temperatures going up 1 degree would cause the water temps to go up enough to kill all corals...then again, maybe I'm wrong and all life balances between a few degrees.

 

[tacocat]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7077206#post7077206 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RxBandit
The prognosis is not good," said biochemistry professor M. James Crabbe of the University of Luton near London. In early April, he will investigate coral reef mortality in Jamaica. "If you want to see a coral reef, go now, because they just won't survive in their current state."

So wait, let me get this straight....we have only a little while left before all the coral reefs die. For some reason I think I would call shenanigans on that statement. Somehow I have a problem beliving that surface temperatures going up 1 degree would cause the water temps to go up enough to kill all corals...then again, maybe I'm wrong and all life balances between a few degrees.

A 1 degree change may and will cause issues, especially long term, but these stories never have opposing views. Furthermore, many journalists choose to quote with an ear toward sensationalism.

For example:

On Sunday, Hernandez-Delgado found a colony of 800-year-old star coral ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â more than 13 feet high ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â that had just died in the waters off Puerto Rico.( maybe if it were an Oregon tort)

How do we know how old that thing was? Corals grow expontentially. I'm not saying this doesn't need our attention, clearly it does. Still, no references were made to the really active hurricane season that swept through the area.

 

[Sheldon337]

Still it is very sad. There are relatively few places you can see such beauty in the wild.

 

[Justin74]

Call me a pecimist, but I think the future of natural coral reefs to very bleek at best. This white band disease aka bleaching has been reported for some time and only increases. And honestly, why wouldnt it? Tons of pollution brought on by human population,technology(and the lack there of..),global warming,etc.etc; nature will always prevail, just not in the forms that were use to associating with natural reefs. Temperatures,chemicals and pollution will reach critical mass for certain species making some extinct or close to and at the same time allowing more abundance for more extreme tolerant species. Just more internet speculation though

But Im just thinking of all the spillages that have gone on within the past 100 years. Not only that but try to fathom all the pollutants that hasnt been publicized,accounted for, or swept under the rug by special interest groups and the governments who covet them

-Justin