Ocean Coral Reefs
Here’s a greatly abbreviated version of the science:
• Increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere come into contact with surface ocean waters and cause a series of chemical reactions that acidify the water.
• This causes coral to expel a certain specific species of algae with which they formerly had a symbiotic relationship.
• The absence of this algae turns the coral white.
• Additionally, this greatly reduces the biodiversity of the reef.
As an ocean diver said today, “If you could see looking at the surface of the ocean what I see below it, you’d find this unacceptable.” Trust me, pal, we all find this unacceptable.
Craig,
The exact nature of Coral and the causes of bleaching are complex and controversial. So much is unknown.
Despite your simplistic and completely unscientific , misunderstanding of the nature of coral reefs (Where you start with a belief and fit only fact consistent with that belief), a lot of good research is being undertaken, but often hampered by media addicted naturalists eager to justify as science, what is really political/ideological propaganda.
In the Caribbean vast amount of UN and environmentalist pundits, film makers, proclaimed reefs dead and dying due to a wide variety of eco-causes. Global warming, industrial pollution, etc ect, vast sims of money were demanded and the Greens, especially in Europe demanded immediate cessation of all human development, especially oil drilling in the gulf, and billions in aid.
In fact, the cause was far more simple. Queen Parrot Fish, along with several other grazing fish numbers were in sharp decline due to over fishing, competition from “protected” predators and other factors.
The mistaken belief that Parrot fish, and other grazing fish “eat” living coral was part of the cause. In fact, these fish ‘clean’ the coral from algae and reduce sea weed and other growths denying coral predators like sea urchins and star fish the opportunity to over populate.
In the Pacific, including Australia’s great barrier reef, it’s popular for the usual alarmist environmentalist to claim CO2 , Global warming, especially warmer sea temperatures are killing coral.
No explanation is ever offered as to why the same coral happily thrive closer to the equator where the oceans are always warmer.
Shallow water reefs, (the ones we are familiar with) are just an evolutionary extension of the deeper mesophotic reefs which host a dizzyingly diverse community of corals, sponges, and algae. This habitat is occupied by unique species of fish and invertebrates, many of them not yet described by science.
Shallow Coral can adapt, evolve and regenerate over time and the evidence exists that reefs are constantly undergoing periods of “blanching” and destruction, before reforming and regenerating.
No one is quite sure why some coral adapts and survives to handle reef changes, white others of the same species, often just inches away, perish. The answer may lie in the types of algae, or whether periods of coral depletion are just part of the natural order.
The Human desire to “reserve” coral reefs, may be a moral perception by the human mind interfering with the way the reefs operate.
Human perception is that a coral reef is beautiful and should be preserved in a stasis like state, ignoring the fact that in nature reefs are quite fragile, yet resilient.
Australia’s James Cook University team of Marine biologists, has been working on a program of breeding super coral from coral found to have a natural resistance to temperature changes,
These scientists are studying the complex and little understood e biological mechanisms that allow some corals to fare better than others. A large part of the puzzle is the exact nature of symbiosis between the wormlike coral polyp and certain types of photosynthesizing algae the polyps depend on for food.
The relationship is complicated by the fact that both the polyps and algae keep changing the relationship, seemingly without reason. The widespread belief that the polps expelled the algae during periods of warming now seems to have been an over simplification and misunderstanding.
Hundreds, if not thousands of algae species inhabit the cells of different species of coral.
What makes understanding even more difficult is while some species of algae excel at making the sugars that coral feeds despite changes in water temperature and acidity, other die or abandon the coral. Vexingly, some coral seem suicidal rejecting and even expelling adapted algae in favour of less adaptive and beneficial algae.
Different species of coral and algae react differently to symbiotic, or predator fish and marine life. Frustratingly, coral, algae etc, seems to change a random from time to time without any discernible reason.
Just to throw another controversy into an already confusing marine puzzle is the realization that modern day reef-building corals first evolved in exceedingly warm and stable climates when deep ocean temperatures were 10°C higher than today and palm trees dotted the Antarctic coast !
A mere 18,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum, all our shallow reefs did not exist, as sea levels were 400 feet lower than today.
Recent studies of 7000-year-old fossil coral reefs in the South China Sea reveal period of high coral mortality every 50 years due to winter cooling, or other non temperature related events. events. Past coral extinctions were most commonly due to cold events etc.
The popular concept of “Global warming and human activity” as at sole or even major cause of Coral bleaching is largely inaccurate propaganda, without any scientific basis.
There are 4 widespread misconceptions about bleaching propagated by tabloid media hyping climate doom and researchers like Hoegh-Guldberg. To clarify:
1 Bleaching is not always driven by warming temperatures
2 Bleaching is not responsible for most coral mortality.
3 Coral can rapidly respond to disturbances and replace lost cover within a decade or less.
4 Bleaching, whether or not it results in coral mortality, is part of a natural selection process from which better-adapted populations emerge.
Part of the reason why coral bleaching or behaviour is so little understood, is the desire to prove “someone’s to blame” , wicked humans, industry, climate change, etc.
To an extent, these arguments have some justification. Over fishing of tropical fish, inappropriate coastal or maritime development, introduction of new species are all unhelpful.
However, concentrating only on alarmist propaganda and over inflating the proportion of human contribution to the problem ismore suited to faith based reasoning than proper scientific analysis.
It’s disappointing to witness such distinguished scientists as Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Director of the Global Change Institute (GCI) and Professor of Marine Science, at The University of Queensland, become so enamored with the political/ideological agenda of the climate change activism, as to advocate the de-funding of any marine research which doesn’t agree with furthering a climate change agenda.
Over the years, and during the long period I have been acquainted with Professor I’ve always been impressed by his intellect and integrity.
It’s sad to discover in recent years a tendency for Ove Hoegh-Guldberg to emulate Pope Paul V rather than than Galileo.