Sad news
- Thread starter jh2pizza
- Start date
I'm not so sure J...
"Coral Reefs will be dead in 50 years" -Dr. Ron Shimek MACNA 2007 Pittsburgh
I think the models are pretty depressing and if we keep pumping Co2 into the atmosphere @ the current rate, inevitable!
Also @ last year's MACNA Larry Jackson showed a pics of a Jamaican reef (yes there were once reefs in Jamaica) he dove in 1978 and it was chock full of reef building corals like elkhorn and staghorn etc. He then showed a pic from the 1990's and most of all of the reef building type corals were gone replaced mainly w/soft corals, sea fans etc. He then showed a pic from 2008, nothing but algae, really, really sad news
And it's happening all over the Caribbean.
"Coral Reefs will be dead in 50 years" -Dr. Ron Shimek MACNA 2007 Pittsburgh
I think the models are pretty depressing and if we keep pumping Co2 into the atmosphere @ the current rate, inevitable!
Also @ last year's MACNA Larry Jackson showed a pics of a Jamaican reef (yes there were once reefs in Jamaica) he dove in 1978 and it was chock full of reef building corals like elkhorn and staghorn etc. He then showed a pic from the 1990's and most of all of the reef building type corals were gone replaced mainly w/soft corals, sea fans etc. He then showed a pic from 2008, nothing but algae, really, really sad news
And it's happening all over the Caribbean.
hollback
Team RC
I have no doubt that these areas are dying quickly. I have to think the where corals are dying from higher temps, new reefs are beginning to develop where there were none before. I think it's just evolution that maybe humans are helping along a little quicker than normal. I'm no expert and I form my opinions on nothing factual.
osu133lbs
Member
I just watched a program on SCI about Snowball earth.... Even during these times of very little life on earth some corals survived.... I too believe that these are just cycles of evolutions... During some cycles of the earth, the atmosphere was filled with so much CO2 that humans would not even have survived, yet our precious corals did.... disclaimer.. I am no scientist! JMO
C02 has always been a catalyst for change. It has "pushed" evolution along for eons.
However the there is some evidence that we are putting so much C02 into the atmosphere that many species will not able to adapt and will perish. In this case corals adapting to higher temps, the evidence is there, and CO2 is the smoking gun.
I too believe that corals will probably be able to survive whatever we throw @ them but will they look anything like what we call coral reefs today?
However the there is some evidence that we are putting so much C02 into the atmosphere that many species will not able to adapt and will perish. In this case corals adapting to higher temps, the evidence is there, and CO2 is the smoking gun.
I too believe that corals will probably be able to survive whatever we throw @ them but will they look anything like what we call coral reefs today?
Pescado Amigo
New member
I was taught in seventh grade that arisol was causing a hole in the ozone and at the current rate the heat of the earth would escape and there would be another ice age. Fast forward 32 years and the same scientist are touting global warming. Have the beuatiful reefs always been beautiful, or was there a brief moment in the past billon years that provided the perfect conditions that is now going away. Either way it is sad.
zeppelin
www.corareef.org
I agree with the Jason about coral reefs may start springing up where it was not possible for them to before, based on the warming effect thats occurring. Hopefully enough coral spawn will work their way to those new areas as fast as the current reefs are perishing. I guess thats the big question. Is the natural cycle, if thats what is happening, being speed altered based on human's footprint.
I think that there are FAR more humans on the earth as a whole now than I think there were billions of years ago. Man was not the king of the jungle for most of the earth's tenure in the galaxy, as he/she is now. With man's fruition, and the factories and vehicles that came with that fact, we are pumping out a ton more CO2 than the earth has experienced before (unless there were maybe TONS more active volcanos on earth in the past when the continents were one. Not sure what history tells us about that one.), as well as cutting down and/or paving over the earth's natural CO2 preditor, trees and green areas. I think its pretty safe to assume this may wildly alter any natural cycle that may have occurred in the past, perhaps several times before. I wish the best for our children and grandchildren, because they will know for sure, one way or the other.
I think that there are FAR more humans on the earth as a whole now than I think there were billions of years ago. Man was not the king of the jungle for most of the earth's tenure in the galaxy, as he/she is now. With man's fruition, and the factories and vehicles that came with that fact, we are pumping out a ton more CO2 than the earth has experienced before (unless there were maybe TONS more active volcanos on earth in the past when the continents were one. Not sure what history tells us about that one.), as well as cutting down and/or paving over the earth's natural CO2 preditor, trees and green areas. I think its pretty safe to assume this may wildly alter any natural cycle that may have occurred in the past, perhaps several times before. I wish the best for our children and grandchildren, because they will know for sure, one way or the other.
osu133lbs
Member
I am a bit tipsy right now(12:15 friday night!!) and again I am no scientist. . But are we all not part of nature?? Zep I agree we don't know how many volcanoes were active at one point and time in our past but.. they did produce perhaps thousands more times the CO2 we humans now produce!!! I hope that spawns are creating new reefs as we write!!!! I am sure they Are!!!!
reefbegood
New member
its sad how people still justify dieing reefs in the Caribbean. its true globe warming is part of the planets cycle, but farming run off nutrients, is not and causes a chain reaction that means death to the reefs.
reefbegood
New member
people can find reasoned to justify anything very sad indeed.
MarineFishGuy
Capn Jack Sparrow
While studying for my Marine Science degree, we learned a lot about different planetary and natural cycles.
We studied chemistry, biology, physiology, oceanography.
When you start looking at the oxygen isotope levels in ice cores, you can clearly see that the earth has a natural cycle between times of warmth and ice ages. What is interesting is that in many cases their appears to be a "tipping point".
What you see is the level climbing slowly and steadily for thousands of years, then suddenly in a couple hundred years everything shifts from one extreme to the other.
It is a cycle that has repeated many times over the past several million years.
As someone noted, volcanoes have the ability to release more CO2 in a few weeks than all of our cars combined in an entire year.
Are humans affecting how these cycles occur, yes I believe that is true. However it is unclear that we are causing shifts that are dramatically different than in the past.
When you start looking at what our planet has been through over the past 4 billion years, it is surprising that the environment is as suitable for human existence as it is right now.
As my biology teacher used to say, 99.9% of all species that have ever existed on this planet are now extinct. One day we will be one of them.
Other species will evolve and adapt and a new age will be born.
Perhaps the age of Coral will be next
We studied chemistry, biology, physiology, oceanography.
When you start looking at the oxygen isotope levels in ice cores, you can clearly see that the earth has a natural cycle between times of warmth and ice ages. What is interesting is that in many cases their appears to be a "tipping point".
What you see is the level climbing slowly and steadily for thousands of years, then suddenly in a couple hundred years everything shifts from one extreme to the other.
It is a cycle that has repeated many times over the past several million years.
As someone noted, volcanoes have the ability to release more CO2 in a few weeks than all of our cars combined in an entire year.
Are humans affecting how these cycles occur, yes I believe that is true. However it is unclear that we are causing shifts that are dramatically different than in the past.
When you start looking at what our planet has been through over the past 4 billion years, it is surprising that the environment is as suitable for human existence as it is right now.
As my biology teacher used to say, 99.9% of all species that have ever existed on this planet are now extinct. One day we will be one of them.
Other species will evolve and adapt and a new age will be born.
Perhaps the age of Coral will be next
CleveYank
20 Years and Over
That's a good point on a slight topic turn.
On the subject of amazing the Earth exists with an atmosphere and a diverse forms of life today at all.
I thought I knew quite a bit about the earth's Geological history and mechanisms. Upon watching the recent program on the Earth's geological breakdown of the Core and the comparison to the Earth's Core and Mar's. It made the case that it is extremely lucky and amazing the odds that the Earth beat to make it to what it is today. I still feel that our activities are helping push an odd set of natural occurances to fuel the fire of ecological problems.
However, ff the interpretation of evidence that a possible polar shift is coming? The odd fire, chemical plant's yearly output and another few thousands acres of rain forest lost and the whole greenhouse debate will be the least of our worries. Something that coral and humans would most likely survive. Just not as many of either.
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