Posted by mike on February 17, 2002 at 13:07:21:
In Reply to: Decay of World Coral Reef Threatens Ocean Wonders posted by Brad on February 16, 2002 at 18:21:20:
if the reefs go, then large parts of Indonesia, the Phillipines and other areas could face starvation of their human population.
There are other considerations also, not all of them are necessarily dire. Elevated CO2 levels in the atmosphere mean elevated CO2 levels in the water, which MAY reduce reef-building activity by the polyps. Still, it would be interesting to see if any reefs are adapting to elevated water temps. That possibility exists, seeing as how seasonal zooxanthellae turnover has been seen in some corals, supposedly brought upon by seasonal changes in water temps. Also, some corals are able to survive brutal fluctuations in water temp. There are a lot of variables here, and some evidence exists that coral reefs are more adaptable than we have thought. We simply haven't been looking around long enough to have observed long-term behavior. Global warming doesn't look like it's gonna be stopped, so about all we can do is hold on for the ride and perhaps hope for the best.