this is sad news for the world's reefs
- Thread starter Nina51
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Martini5788
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scelona
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That is a bummer but what worries me a lot more is the human impacts such as agricultural runoff and the slew of problems that comes with climate change (ocean acidification being a scary one). The corals will bounce back from the natural cycles (El Nino and Pacific Decadal Oscillation) like they have done for 100s of millions of years but they have never had to deal with the human factors.
mussel and hate
New member
This. Funny how Faux News spins this as the fault of El Nino.
Seriously? I guess you haven't used Bing as a search engine today whereas the lead article on this subject as reported by News OXY also says El Nino. Or, any of the other 10 or so on the main page.
Personal bias or ignorance is bliss - either way it has nothing to do with any one news source. Many sources are reporting it as the same. Do with that as you will...
rogeragrimes
New member
I do some work with the Coral Restoration Foundation. Certainly the El Nino has caused some severe weather that has accelerated and exacerbated coral bleaching, so this article is correct. But a temporary event wouldn't be that big of news except for the fact that our coral systems have been under tremendous assault for nearly 4 decades due to a myriad of other factors including: man-made climate change, physical destruction, pollution, disease, environmental factors, such as over-fertilization, etc. If all these other factors didn't account for all the long term and growing damage that they do, a one-time, even long-lasting bleaching event wouldn't concern us. Because it is happening on top of all the other factors, it's a big deal. Some corals can recover from bleaching events quickly, many others never do.
Reel North
New King of Quarantine
Climate change.....
I think it's more due to all the crap we flush down the drains and allow to run into the sea.
Climate change: nothing to due with the climate. In reality- a way to distribute the worlds wealth.
Anyway, coral bleaching sucks
I think it's more due to all the crap we flush down the drains and allow to run into the sea.
Climate change: nothing to due with the climate. In reality- a way to distribute the worlds wealth.
Anyway, coral bleaching sucks
karimwassef
Active member
Not exactly. Natural cycles happen over very long periods like hundreds of years. This allows generations of more resilient organisms to be better able to weather the change.
Unnatural cycles (like those created by human activity) are extremely rapid in terms of generations of living creatures. There is little chance to adapt to the changing conditions - leading to true extinction after a few rapid cycles.
We need to start creating protected preserves where conservation efforts can be employed to study and actively harden the biology of these creatures. If we're responsible for the rapid changes that kill them, we need to take action to help them adapt faster than their natural processes could naturally allow.
karimwassef
Active member
True - but humans are more persistent in our consumption than she is resilient. That's why more creatures are extinct today than 200 years ago. We're the equivalent of a meteor strike (not sure how big)... the mother nature that recovers won't be the same - and we may not like her very much...
I think we seriously underestimate the sheer resilience of the coral species to withstand any Global catastrophe. I would be fairly certain that the Human race could never survive some of the horrendous extinction events that have occurred over Geological time...ie Coral survived the Devonian extinction that wiped out 99% of all life (for reasons not clear, but likely related to massive changes in Solar activity) Coral also survived the Cretaceous extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs together with 90 % of all living species.
But I am puzzled about your statement that " more creatures are extinct today than 200 years ago. "...that does not make sense !! How many were extinct 200 years ago ?? Considering that 90% + of all species that ever lived are now extinct, your words have no meaning. Extinction is purely a function of living. Eventually ALL species become extinct, to be replaced by other species. Although, for some like corals, cyano-bacteria and the like primitive organisms from the Cambrian, this takes in excess of 3 BILLION years, and for some newcomers like Mankind - H. Sapiens, this may only take a mere 1 Million years !!
karimwassef
Active member
let me rephrase:
there are more extinct species today than there were 200 years ago, and it's due to human activity.
there are more extinct species today than there were 200 years ago, and it's due to human activity.
karimwassef
Active member
Wow - just wow.
Survival requires enough of the required variables to remain intact and enough time for adaptation.
"Any?" .... have you kept any corals ?
just kidding, but they're not that hard to kill.You're right that we don't have explanations for their survival in the past, but it may be one key variable that we're now actively destroying...
It's like saying "humans survive well under water with snorkeling gear", even if there's an oil fire raging over the surface... and everything else dies. Now, let's take their snorkeling gear away and set fire to the surface again. They're very resilient, I'm sure they'll survive this time too.
So there are more extinct species now than were 200 years ago, that is a profound statement.
nyknicks4412
New member
The world's climate ebbs and flows. New England was once covered by a glacier and at another point was a tropical rain forest.
NOAA cites that coral reefs we see today began growing 50 million years ago. The earth's been through many warming and cooling phases since...so I'm sure they'll make it through the dreaded "el Nino".
Everyone gives humans too much credit. We are a little blip on the grand scale of the earth's history. Corals were here long before us and I'm sure they'll be here long after we are gone lol. So relax and enjoy the ride.
Analyzing climate change in yearly increments like we do today is absurd.
(And no the point of my post wasn't to say we can dump toxic waste on the Great Barrier Reef and expect the corals to survive)
NOAA cites that coral reefs we see today began growing 50 million years ago. The earth's been through many warming and cooling phases since...so I'm sure they'll make it through the dreaded "el Nino".
Everyone gives humans too much credit. We are a little blip on the grand scale of the earth's history. Corals were here long before us and I'm sure they'll be here long after we are gone lol. So relax and enjoy the ride.
Analyzing climate change in yearly increments like we do today is absurd.
(And no the point of my post wasn't to say we can dump toxic waste on the Great Barrier Reef and expect the corals to survive)
karimwassef
Active member
the profound portion was the human activity part.
http://news.discovery.com/animals/e...imal-extinctions-in-past-500-years-140724.htm
dinosaurs were around for millions of years, and then they weren't... past performance is not an indicator of future results :ape:
CStrickland
New member
Here's the noaa statement that the news article summarizes http://www.noaa.gov/el-niño-prolongs-longest-global-coral-bleaching-event
Basically, man-made global warming is making it more difficult for reefs to recover in between normal events like El Niño.
Basically, man-made global warming is making it more difficult for reefs to recover in between normal events like El Niño.
I think the word rate as in the rate of species becoming extinct because of anthropogenic activities is greater today compared to the extinction rate during the early 1800s should be considered in this context.
mussel and hate
New member
Boom
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