News tagged with coral reefs

'Pyramids' planted to revive Philippine corals

Thousands of small "pyramids" are being planted off the Philippines' famous Boracay resort island in an effort to bring its nearly destroyed coral reefs back to life, an environment group said Thursday.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Coral growth in Western Australia found to be thriving in warmer water

(PhysOrg.com) -- As most people are well aware, global warming isn’t just about the atmosphere, it’s about rising ocean temperatures as well. And like increases in the atmosphere, scientists aren’t ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 8 | with audio podcast report

Heat and cold damage corals in their own ways, study shows

Around the world coral reefs are facing threats brought by climate change and dramatic shifts in sea temperatures. While ocean warming has been the primary focus for scientists and ocean policy managers, cold events can also ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sea cucumbers could be key to preserving coral reefs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tropical sea cucumbers could play a key role in saving coral reefs from the devastating effects of climate change, say scientists at One Tree Island, the University of Sydney's research station ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs

Over dinner on R.V. Calypso while anchored on the lee side of Glover's Reef in Belize, Jacques Cousteau told Phil Dustan that he suspected humans were having a negative impact on coral reefs. Dustan—a ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Great Barrier Reef hopes on ice in Aussie Outback

The arid plains fringing Australia's desert centre are more suited to camels than blooms of coral but here, hundreds of miles from the coast, a piece of the Great Barrier Reef has been put on ice.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Rich Asians threaten high-value fish: experts

The growing ranks of wealthy Asians and their increasing appetite for more expensive fish are threatening stocks, potentially causing wider environmental damage, experts at a UN conference said on Tuesday.

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Lessons in coral reef survival from deep time

Lessons from tens of millions of years ago are pointing to new ways to save and protect today's coral reefs and their myriad of beautiful and many-hued fishes at a time of huge change in the Earth's systems.

Biology / Evolution

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Unprecedented, man-made trends in ocean's acidity

Recent carbon dioxide emissions have pushed the level of seawater acidity far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years, affecting the calcification rates of shell-forming ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 22, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (20) | comments 29 | with audio podcast

Cliffhanging corals avoid trawler damage

Bottom trawling fishing boats have devastated many cold water coral reefs along the margin of the North East Atlantic Ocean. Now, researchers have found large cold water coral colonies clinging to the vertical ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

NASA satellite sees birth of Tropical Storm Ethel, now threatening Rodrigues

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Ethel on January 19, 2012 after she was born in the Southern Indian Ocean. The island of Rodrigues is now under Tropical Cyclone Warnings as Ethel approaches ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Carbon dioxide affecting fish brains: study

Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous systems of sea fish, with serious consequences for their survival, according to new research.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (15) | comments 15

First-known ginglymodian fish found from the middle triassic of Eastern Yunnan Province, China

The Ginglymodi are a group of ray-finned fishes that make up one of three major subdivisions of the infraclass Neopterygii. Extant ginglymodians are represented by gars, which inhabit freshwater environments ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jan 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Trouble in paradise: Ocean acidification this way comes

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble.---Shakespeare, Macbeth

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 22 | with audio podcast

Fish mimics octopus that mimics fish

Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish (Stalix cf. histrio) and th ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters containing few nutrients. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate. The accumulation of skeletal material, broken and piled up by wave action and bioeroders, produces a calcareous formation that supports the living corals and a great variety of other animal and plant life.

Coral reefs most commonly live in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water corals exist on a much smaller scale.

Globally, coral reefs are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas can harm reefs by encouraging excess algae growth.

For more information about Coral reef, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.