Transcript The Fate of the Coral Reefs

The Fate of the
Coral Reefs
Global Warming’s Effect on Ocean Ecosystem
By: Pat Wise
www.divegallery.com
http://liveandletdive.googlepages.com/dreamstimeweb_7417461_reef.JPG/dreamsti
meweb_7417461_reef-full.jpg
http://spyspider.com/skull_and_cros
sbones.png
http://www.australiaone.com.au/images
/public/Great-Barrier-Reef-QLD.jpg
What is Coral Mate?
 Phylum - Cnidaria
 Class - Anthozoa
 Reef building secrete
CaCO3 skeletons
 Neritic Zone of Ocean
(Shallow)
 Sunlight and warm water!
 Cnidocytes
http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Coral/sciclasscr.html
Sweet Place to Live
 Home to 9 million
Species
 Maximum Production!
 One of Four
 Sick Hiding Spots
www.apple.com
Symbiosis WOAH! Awesome!
 Photosynthetic
Dinoflagellates
 Zooxantheallae –
Nitrogenous
waste, CO2, and a
Home
 Coral –
Photosynthetic
capability and
increased CaCO3
production
 Pigmented algae
produce colorful
coral
http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/st
udents/coral/coral3.htm
http://animals.nationalgeog
raphic.com/animals/photos/
corals.html
Global Warming (In Case You Forgot)
http://www.younggreens.ie/main/?p=89
Coral Bleaching… Not Cool
 Increased Water
Temperature
 Zooxantheallae don’t pull
their weight
 Algae expelled from Coral
 Leaves white coral behind
www.abc.net.au/reslib/
200704/r135574_457949.jpg
Coral Bleaching… is Ugly
 Coral Death leads to algae and soft
coral overgrowth
 Marine “Weeds”
www.gbrmpa.gov.au
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/image_full/internation
al/photosvideos/photos/bleached-coral-great-barrier
Damage Done – Great Barrier Reef
 42% of Great Barrier Reef bleached in 1998
 18% suffered permanent damage
 El Niño in 2002 warmed water temperatures affecting 60%
of GBR
 Killed 90% of reef forming corals on some inshore reefs
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (1999). Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and the Future of the World's Coral Reefs. Mar. Freshw. Res.
The Future
 CO2 increases will lead to further
water temp. increases
 Dr. Terry Done – “1° increase in global
temperature = 82% reef bleaching, 2°
increase = 97%, 3° = Total devastation”
 Graph – Temp increase/bleaching
threshold vs. Time
 Increasing CO2 levels in ocean
(acidification) hurts coral’s ability to
generate CaC)3 reef structures.
http://www.sciencemag.org/
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (1999). Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and the Future of the World's Coral Reefs. Mar. Freshw.
Res.
Effects on Fish
 Lose Habitat
 Massive Extinctions
 Gobiodon Species C
 Biodiversity Loss
 Food Production
www.mahonia.org
Red Tides
 1998 El Niño results in
massive burning of
Indonesian Rainforests
 Iron rich smog develops
 Toxin producing
Dinoflagellates (red in color)
produce red tide
 Devastating effect –
carcinogens (Karenia brevis)
wildcoast.blog.com
Red Tides… Even Worse
 2002 – El Niño produces smog over Southeast Asia
 Size of the United States
 Cut sunlight by 10%
 Heated lower atmosphere and Ocean
 Hundreds of Millions of dollars worth of aquaculture
damaged
 Southeastern Coral Reefs may be permanently damaged
A New Hope?
 Symbiodinium
 50/400 = F No Complexity
 Migration
 To Where?
Google.images.com
What to Do???
 Lower CO2 Emissions
 Stop Overfishing
 Protect Reefs from non-water
warming harm (Tourism,
Boating, Overfishing)
 Stop El Niño!
More Simple Solutions
 Turn off the Lights!
 Eat less meat
 Turn down your thermostat
 Use electricity over natural gas
 Use the fireplace!
 Ride your bike
 Make daily sacrifices to Gukumatz (Very Important)
http://www.yovendomicasa.es/im
ages/dibujoserpientecols2.jpg
 Hughes, T.P. et al. 2003. Climate Change, Human Impacts, and
the Resilience of Coral Reefs. Science 301, pp. 929-33
 Freeman, Scott. Biological Science. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall, 2004.
 Flannery, Tim. The Weather Makers, Our Changing Climate and
What it Means for Life on Earth. New York, NY: Penguin Group,
2005. 104-13.
 Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (1999). Climate Change, Coral Bleaching
and the Future of the World's Coral Reefs. Mar. Freshw. Res.
 Donner, S., Skirving, W. J., Little, C. M., Oppenheimer, M. and
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2005). Global assessment of coral
bleaching and required rates of adaptation under climate
change. Glob. Chan. Biol.
 "Garden Sprinklers May Save Reef from Bleaching." ABC News.
15 June 2007. ABC. 10 Nov. 2008
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/15/1951896.htm
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