Coral reefs have exceptional levels of biodiversity and provide important social and ecological services, including food, coastal protection, recreation, tourism, and cultural connections. However, local
BY KRISTEN GELINEAU SYDNEY
SYDNEY: Marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans, findings released on Thursday said.
Australian scientists have discovered hundreds of new coral and marine species on the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef which they say will improve monitoring reef biodiversity and the impact of cl
TUTICORIN: The two-day national conference on
It extends to about 300 km between Rameswaram and Thoothukudi; there are 3,600 marine species in the area Ramanathapuram THE increasing growth of coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar region proves that the measures taken to check mining of coral has paid dividends. A recent study by experts has shown that coral reef was growing in 3.7 sq km area in the National Marine Park. The coral reef extends to about 300 km between Rameswaram and Thoothkudi. There are about 3,600 marine species found in the area and 117 varieties of coral reef in the Gulf of Mannar.
Climate change is a serious environmental challenge that could undermine the drive for sustainable development. Since the industrial revolution, the mean surface temperature of earth has increased an average of 1degree celsius per century due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
To keep coral reefs from being eaten away by increasingly acidic oceans, humans need to limit the amount of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a panel of marine scientists said on Wednesday. "The most logical and critical action to address the impacts of ocean acidification on coral reefs is to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration," the scientists said in a document called the Honolulu Declaration, for release at a US conference on coral reefs in Hawaii.
Jeremy Jackson, director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, cites the synergistic effects of habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean warming, increased acidification and massive nutrient runoff as culprits in a grand transformation of once complex ocean ecosystems. Areas that had featured intricate marine food webs with large animals are being converted into simplistic ecosystems dominated by microbes, toxic algal blooms, jellyfish and disease.
Conservation zones in the Indian Ocean set up to protect fish stocks are not preventing coral reefs from collapsing due to warmer temperatures or helping to speed their recovery, researchers reported on Wednesday. The reason is many of these non-fishing areas are located in warmer waters where coral reefs have a harder time surviving when temperatures rise suddenly, said Newcastle University marine biologist Nick Graham, who led the study.
icebergs hit seafloor: Rapid global warming has caused Icebergs along the Antarctic Peninsula to break free and scour away all life forms along the seafloor, says a new study by the British Antarctic Survey. The report establishes for the first time the link between increased scouring and decline in winter sea ice. In the past, these icebergs were locked in place by winter sea ice for longer
