Environment

Coral Reefs Lost Due to Acid Oceans

by Amy Judd | December 11, 2008 at 01:59 pm

407 views | 7 Recommendations | 5 comments

About 1/5 of the world's coral reefs have been lost so far, and much more could be destroyed if the acidity in the oceans continues to rise, a result of climate change according to conservation groups.

Greenhouse gases causes temperatures to rise, causing threats to coral, which are already under attack from fishing.

When carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans, it reacts to produce carbonic acid, which in turn makes the water more acidic, and that can dissolve calcium and other parts of the coral.

About 19 percent of coral reefs have disappeared during the last 20 years, said IUCN's director general, Julia Marton-Lefèvre.

"If current trends in carbon dioxide emission continue, many of the remaining reefs will be lost in the next 20 to 40 years," Marton-Lefèvre said at Wednesday's U.N. talks, which are focused on creating a new climate change treaty.

"Climate change must be limited to the absolute minimum if we want to save coral reefs. We need to move forward and substantially cut emissions," she said.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Paschen

at 15:55 on December 11th, 2008

PH changes are very rapid for the past decade, it was slow until then, however we seem to have reached the saturation point.

Reef Bum gm333

at 15:56 on December 11th, 2008

Hence one of the reasons for more people to get involved in coral farming. One day we may have to help repopulate coral reefs that have been damaged from nature or humans. Most of the corals I have obtained have been farmed on artificial reefs or in home systems.

Emilio Lizardo

at 17:28 on December 11th, 2008

Amy, there are a variety of opinions as to the cause(s) of the decline of Earth's ocean coral systems.

My own opinion, after researching the topic myself, is that the main cause seems rather obvious and has little or nothing to do with increased ultraviolet solar radiation. That conclusion is most unsettling, to say the least, but still obvious, nonetheless, it seems.

Those interested might check my posting of August 14, 2008, here at NowPublic, entitled, Earth's Coral Reef Catastrophe.