{"id":485,"date":"2010-09-21T16:02:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-21T16:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/?p=485"},"modified":"2010-09-21T16:08:32","modified_gmt":"2010-09-21T16:08:32","slug":"new-york-times-extreme-heat-puts-coral-reefs-at-risk-forecasts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/2010\/09\/21\/new-york-times-extreme-heat-puts-coral-reefs-at-risk-forecasts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times: Extreme Heat Puts Coral Reefs at Risk, Forecasts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/09\/21\/science\/earth\/21coral.html?_r=1&hp<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coral bleaching, like that seen in the Flower Garden Banks off the Texas-Louisiana border, is an indicator of heat stress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By JUSTIN GILLIS<\/p>\n

Published: September 20, 2010<\/h6>\n

By JUSTIN GILLIS
\n>From Thailand to Texas, many corals are reacting to heat stress by shedding their color and going into survival mode, putting the oceans’ richest ecosystems and fisheries at risk.
\nSeptember 20, 2010
\nExtreme Heat Puts Coral Reefs at Risk, Forecasts Say
\nBy JUSTIN GILLIS
\nThis year\u2019s extreme heat is putting the world\u2019s coral reefs under such severe stress that scientists fear widespread die-offs, endangering not only the richest ecosystems in the ocean but also associated fisheries that feed millions of people.<\/p>\n

>From Thailand to Texas, corals are reacting to the heat stress by bleaching, or shedding their color and going into survival mode. Many have already died, and more are expected to do so in coming months. Computer forecasts of water temperature suggest that corals in the Caribbean may undergo drastic bleaching in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

What is unfolding this year is only the second known global bleaching of coral reefs. Scientists are holding out hope that this year will not be as bad, over all, as 1998, the hottest year in the historical record, when an estimated 16 percent of the world\u2019s shallow-water reefs died. But in some places, including Thailand, the situation is looking worse than in 1998.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the trouble with the reefs is linked to climate change. For years they have warned that corals, highly sensitive to excess heat, would serve as an early indicator of the ecological distress on the planet caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am significantly depressed by the whole situation,\u201d said Clive Wilkinson, director of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, an organization in Australia that is tracking this year\u2019s disaster.<\/p>\n

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the first eight months of 2010 matched 1998 as the hottest January to August period on record. High ocean temperatures are taxing the organisms most sensitive to them, the shallow-water corals that create some of the world\u2019s most vibrant and colorful seascapes.<\/p>\n

Coral reefs occupy a tiny fraction of the ocean, but they harbor perhaps a quarter of all marine species, including a profusion of fish. Often called the \u201crain forests of the sea,\u201d they are the foundation not only of important fishing industries but also of tourist economies worth billions.<\/p>\n

Drastic die-offs of coral were seen for the first time in 1983 in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, during a large-scale weather event known as El Ni\u00f1o. During an El Ni\u00f1o, warm waters normally confined to the western Pacific flow to the east; 2010 is also an El Ni\u00f1o year.<\/p>\n

Serious regional bleaching has occurred intermittently since the 1983 disaster. It is clear that natural weather variability plays a role in overheating the reefs, but scientists say it cannot, by itself, explain what has become a recurring phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a lot easier for oceans to heat up above the corals\u2019 thresholds for bleaching when climate change is warming the baseline temperatures,\u201d said C. Mark Eakin, who runs a program called Coral Reef Watch for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. \u201cIf you get an event like El Ni\u00f1o or you just get a hot summer, it\u2019s going to be on top of the warmest temperatures we\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coral reefs are made up of millions of tiny animals, called polyps, that form symbiotic relationships with algae. The polyps essentially act as farmers, supplying the algae with nutrients and a place to live. The algae in turn capture sunlight and carbon dioxide to make sugars that feed the coral polyps.<\/p>\n

The captive algae give reefs their brilliant colors. Many reef fish sport fantastical colors and patterns themselves, as though dressing to match their surroundings.<\/p>\n

Coral bleaching occurs when high heat and bright sunshine cause the metabolism of the algae to speed out of control, and they start creating toxins. The polyps essentially recoil. \u201cThe algae are spat out,\u201d Dr. Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n

The corals look white afterward, as though they had been bleached. If temperatures drop, the corals\u2019 few remaining algae can reproduce and help the polyps recover. But corals are vulnerable to disease in their denuded condition, and if the heat stress continues, the corals starve to death.<\/p>\n

Even on dead reefs, new coral polyps will often take hold, though the overall ecology of the reef may be permanently altered. The worst-case situation is that a reef dies and never recovers.<\/p>\n

In dozens of small island nations and in some coastal areas of Indonesia and the Philippines, people are heavily dependent on reef fish as a source of protein. The death of corals is not immediately lethal to the fish, but if the coral polyps do not recover, scientists say the reef can eventually collapse, and the associated fishery will become far less productive.<\/p>\n

Research shows that is already happening in parts of the Caribbean, though people there are not as dependent on fishing as those living on Pacific islands.<\/p>\n

It will be months before this year\u2019s toll is known for sure. But scientists tracking the fate of corals say they have already seen widespread bleaching in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, with corals in Thailand, parts of Indonesia and some smaller island nations being hit especially hard earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Temperatures have since cooled in the western Pacific and the immediate crisis has passed there, even as it accelerates in places like the Caribbean where the waters are still warming. Serious bleaching has been seen recently in the Flower Garden Banks, a marine sanctuary off the Texas-Louisiana border.<\/p>\n

In Thailand, \u201cthere some signs of recovery in places,\u201d said James True, a biologist at Prince of Songkla University. But in other spots, he said, corals were hit so hard that it is not clear young polyps will be available from nearby areas to repopulate dead reefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concern we have now is that the bleaching is so widespread that potential source reefs upstream have been affected,\u201d Dr. True said.<\/p>\n

Even in a hot year, of course, climate varies considerably from place to place. The water temperatures in the Florida Keys are only slightly above normal this year, and the beloved reefs of that region have so far escaped serious harm.<\/p>\n

Parts of the northern Caribbean, including the United States Virgin Islands, saw incipient bleaching this summer, but the tropical storms and hurricanes moving through the Atlantic have cooled the water there and may have saved some corals. Farther south, though, temperatures are still remarkably high, putting many Caribbean reefs at risk.<\/p>\n

Summer is only just beginning in the Southern Hemisphere, but water temperatures off Australia are also above normal, and some scientists are worried about the single most impressive reef on earth. The best hope now, Dr. Wilkinson said, is for mild tropical storms that would help to cool Australian waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get a poor monsoon season,\u201d he said, \u201cI think we\u2019re in for a serious bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/09\/21\/science\/earth\/21coral.html?_r=1&hp Coral bleaching, like that seen in the Flower Garden Banks off the Texas-Louisiana border, is an indicator of heat stress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By JUSTIN GILLIS Published: September 20, 2010 By JUSTIN GILLIS >From Thailand to Texas, many corals are reacting to heat stress by shedding their color and going into survival mode, putting the oceans’ richest … Continue reading New York Times: Extreme Heat Puts Coral Reefs at Risk, Forecasts Say<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}