Fifth of world's corals already dead, say experts

An environmental management specialist of the Batangas city fisheries office inspects a coral reef formation in the Verde sea passage south of Manila, Philippines, February 2007. Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday.

Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday.

Similar stories from PHYSorg:

Newly Discovered Fat Molecule: An Undersea Killer with an Upside

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (10) | 0

Germany, Mexico, US top smart energy list

Nov 05, 2009 | 2.5 / 5 (2) | 1

3 Questions: Sergey Paltsev on the costs of climate-change legislation

Nov 05, 2009 | 2.6 / 5 (5) | 4

Reducing Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint

Nov 04, 2009 | 2.7 / 5 (3) | 0

North America automobile sector bottom of 'world sustainability league'

Oct 30, 2009 | 4 / 5 (5) | 1

   

• tigger - Dec 10, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
  Waaaaiit, wait... waaaiiit for eeeit.... here come the head in the sand anti climate change muppets... those pricks that will either be dead, or back flip entirely when their grand children ask them why human beings did nothing when they knew without any sense of rational doubt that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels impact the survival of coral reefs.
  
  Waaaaiit, wait... waaaiiit for eeeit....
  
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• Hoarsesenz - Dec 10, 2008
  • Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
  (20 years from now)
  
  How was I supposed to know? Those kooks are always claiming the world is going to end.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• Roach - Dec 10, 2008
  • Rank: not rated yet
  Wait a minute, Everyone is worked up over the CO2 part of this? Oh, it's okay to dump crap directly there, what hazmat, sure the ocean is big what you want to catch all the tuna in the area so you can feed tourist, okay, want to dump forign animals in the area that's all right, but don't drive your car? What will you say in 20 years when your kids say why didn't you think to stop the dumping of trash in the coral reefs? didn't you think that would have some impact? What's the point of cutting CO2 if you were just going to keep dumping in the oceans?
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• holmstar - Dec 10, 2008
  • Rank: not rated yet

  Wait a minute, Everyone is worked up over the CO2 part of this?

  
  
  Yes.
  
  When CO2 disolves in water, it makes it more acidic. *MOST* of the CO2 we currently produce ends up getting absorbed by the ocean. This changes the pH to something that corals cannot deal with and thus they die. Keep in mind that corals are a sort of oceanic canary-in-a-mine. They die before other things because they are more sensitive, but serve as a warning.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• Roach - Dec 11, 2008
  • Rank: not rated yet
  Holmstar, Whether or not the minute change from global CO2 rise affects the coral or not, saying that the leading problem in comparison to directly over fishing said areas or directly polluting into said area is a CO2 rise with a small if measureable change in the acid content of the water which can more easily be explained by removing aquatic life and adding trash is no longer just AGW rhetoric, it's ignoring an enormous problem for the sake of making a point. Whether you belive AGW or not. No one can possibly belive we can ignore the other "minor" issues and be any better off.
  
  If someone is lying dead in the street with a bullet hole in the chest you don't immeadiatly rule out gunshot wound as cause of death because he was in the street and might have been hit by a car. There is no logic to it.
  
  I agree acidification of the ocean is bad for delicate marine life, but lets get the two by fours out of the way before we look for splinters.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• Bob_Kob - Dec 14, 2008
  • Rank: not rated yet
  Does no one know that there were higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere in the past and that coral reefs are millions of years old. They survived all right then and they'll do it again.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5