http://www.coraldisease.org/

The GCDD is the result of a collaboration between UNEP-WCMC and NOAA NMFS. The project aims to collate information on the global distribution of coral diseases, in order to contribute to the understanding of coral disease prevalence. The GCDD is a compilation of information from scientific literature gathered before 2007 (archive data), as well as new contributions from users. The content of the database is being continually updated by users, creating a sustainable platform for the dissemination of coral disease data.

download the entire report at:

http://na.oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Ocean_Acidification_The_Untold_Stories.pdf

November 1, 2010

Our use of fossil fuels, deforestation and land use changes are wreaking havoc on the  oceans. Besides causing global climate change, which could cause catastrophic impacts around the world, the release of carbon dioxide from these activities is also leading to ocean acidification. The oceans ultimately absorb most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and thus play a critical role in regulating climate. They also help to mitigate human caused climate change. But the unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide being created by human activity has surpassed what the oceans can healthfully absorb, changing ocean chemistry and making them more acidic.

Acidity is measured on a pH scale, where lower pH indicates more acidic water. Ocean pH has dropped by thirty percent globally during the last two hundred years. Even though the drop in pH appears small (from 8.2 to 8.1), the pH scale is logarithmic, meaning that this change is large enough that it may already be beginning to affect some of the oceans most beloved and biologically important residents, including corals.

The changing acidity of the oceans threatens to throw off the delicate chemical balance upon which marine ife depends for survival. The scant attention this issue has received has focused primarily on corals, which are threatened with extinction within this century unless we change course. Corals are the framework builders of reefs, by far the most diverse ecosystems of our oceans. However, the effects of acidification are not going to stop with reefs, like dominoes, the impacts are going to be far-reaching throughout the oceans.

snorkeling trails[1]

Conservation Biology. Vol 14 No. 6 December 2000