No Reef Relief: Warming Abets Coral Disease in Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Warming ocean temperatures don't just bleach coral, they also leave the tiny creatures vulnerable to a mysterious disease

White Syndrom: Not to be confused with coral bleaching, mysterious white syndrome follows in the wake of warm waters and creeps slowly across the face of a coral, like the one pictured here.

Corals under temperature stress blanch, expelling symbiotic algae that hide the white skeletons below them. But this coral bleaching is not the only phenomena that renders the tiny creatures ashen and lifeless: So-called white syndrome spreads across coral in the South Pacific in the wake of warming events. The two catastrophes can be distinguished by the ways they leave their palls of pale death. "White syndrome moves across in a band," says marine biologist John Bruno of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as if a pathogen is moving from neighbor to neighbor. On the other hand, "bleaching is a whole-colony phenomena." Now, a longitudinal study designed to assess the health of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has revealed that thriving clusters of coral are more susceptible to the mysterious white syndrome than their less densely packed peers.

Bruno and his colleagues surveyed 48 colonies spread over 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) of the Great Barrier Reef every year for six years. The team measured general health and looked specifically for outbreaks of white syndrome. The cause of this affliction is unknown, but by comparing the health data they gathered with satellite measurements of ocean temperatures, the scientists were able to confirm that the disease tends to follow summers with higher than usual sea surface temperatures. They also discovered that only thriving reefs—where tiny coral polyps cover 50 percent or more of the ocean's bottom—suffered from the syndrome, according to their paper in PLoS Biology. "The irony is that the healthiest reefs are the ones where the disease outbreaks are occurring," Bruno says.

Because scientists do not know what causes white syndrome, it is impossible to say why denser reefs suffer more. But it is possible that, just like in human cities, proximity gives a pathogen a better chance of spreading. Corals compete with their neighbors, Bruno says, attacking them at night with special tendrils. "It could plausibly open up lesions that allow a bacteria to colonize the coral tissue," he says.

Determining the exact cause of white syndrome, which was first observed only about a decade ago, will require parsing the hundreds of bacteria that thrive in corals' mucus secretions. One thing is clear, however: rapidly increasing temperatures are subjecting the tiny animals to undue stress. "It is faster than they can acclimate," Bruno says. "Coral reefs are an ephemeral feature of the ocean. The concern is that we are going to lose the habitat that they create when they are super-healthy."

Coral Grief: Warming Climate Threatens Reef Destruction

If the reefs go, it won't just be corals that disappear from the world's oceans.

CORAL CRISIS : Nearly one-third of coral species, like Purites pukoensis pictured here, are threatened with extinction by climate change and other manmade problems.

A survey of 704 species of coral—tiny polyps with hard shells, some of which form spectacular underwater reefs—has found that nearly 33 percent of them face a greater threat of becoming extinct as the globe warms. The main culprits, according to the study published today in Science: bleaching—when corals expel the algae that normally feeds them and gives them color—as well as disease outbreaks in coral weakened by warming sea-surface temperatures.

"If we cannot manage the [carbon dioxide] in the atmosphere, there's a very good possibility that bleaching events and disease events will be occurring with greater frequency and, if that occurs, there is a good chance that some species are not going to be able to replenish themselves fast enough," says marine biologist Kent Carpenter of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., who led the research. "Add ocean acidification [also caused by rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere], which is even more insidious than ocean warming, and you've got a real dire picture."

Researchers assessed the health of coral species worldwide by measuring declines in their abundance on the reefs and ocean beds they call home and then used criteria developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to determine the risk of extinction. Previous studies have found declines of as much as 80 percent in the number of coral living within particular reefs.

"Corals are the backbone of the ecosystem," Carpenter notes, and reefs harbor roughly one quarter of all known marine species—from fish to algae. "What is going to happen to that huge biodiversity that is dependent on coral reefs? We don't know, but our consensus is that it would most probably lead to a massive loss of biodiversity in the oceans."

A similar assessment of coral health in U.S. waters released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that roughly half of the coral species in these waters are struggling and continue to decline.

"Predictions are that within 50 to 100 years not only will we see decline in growth rates for corals and other shell-dependent species—they may actually begin to dissolve," says marine biologist Jenny Waddell of the NOAA Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, who helped prepare the report. Climate change "is somewhat of an x-factor. We don't really know how resilient corals are."

The U.S. government did, however, take the unprecedented step in 2006 of listing two species of coral—Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis)—as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This means that both Caribbean reef-builders face a significant risk of extinction within the next 30 years. Plans for how to deal with that threat and protect the two species are still being finalized, according to Weddell.

But not all marine biologists agree that corals are in dire straits. "Clearly lions and tigers are threatened by extinction when there are currently only a few thousand of them left. But is a coral species, whose population was reduced from maybe a billion to 300 million or even a few hundred thousand, really threatened by extinction? Personally, I very much doubt it," says marine biologist John Bruno of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "But I think the ecological function of many reef-building corals is threatened by quite drastic losses in their abundances."

Instead of focusing on saving individual coral species, Bruno argues, the overall health of the oceans could be protected by managing the protection of coral reefs to maximize their overall abundance—which would then also have the effect of maximizing the numbers of all the species that rely on them for food or habitat.

The goods news is that coral reefs can recover within decades, according to Bruno and Waddell, a process that has already started to occur at some reefs in the Caribbean and Pacific. But only if they are free of man-made pressures such as water pollution, overfishing and climate change.

And if the tiny polyps continue to be pummeled by these factors? The outlook is grim, Carpenter warns. "Whether or not [coral species] actually do go extinct depends on whether corals continue to have more frequent bleaching events and disease events because of increased sea-surface temperatures," he says. "If these events continue to become more frequent, there's a real possibility."

Tropical Abundance of New Species Found in Indonesian Seas

Bird's Head Seascape contains reefs that shelter thousands of fish species and hundreds of corals.

Some say the age of exploration is over, but there are still parts of the world that scientists and other explorers have rarely penetrated. Many of these places lie beneath the sea's surface, and one such place--the so-called Bird's Head Seascape off the western coast of the island of New Guinea--revealed upon recent survey that it contained as many as 52 new species of fish, shrimp and coral. "The scientists that went there did expect to see impressive things," says Sebastian Troeng of Conservation International in Washington, D.C., the advocacy group that organized the expedition. "But I think they were blown away by the biodiversity that they did encounter."


A peninsula juts off the northwestern coast of New Guinea on the Indonesian side, which helps the world's second largest island look vaguely like a turkey. In that picture, the peninsula represents the bird's head, and the area between its beak and wattle is the area surveyed. An initial team had scouted it back in 2001, but in February and April of this year Conservation International put together a team of biologists and other scientists to scour the seascape as part of its rapid assessment program. These expeditions aim to quickly register the flora and fauna in order to inform conservation decisions.


During the six weeks of survey, scientists catalogued more than 1,200 species of fish and nearly 600 species of coral as well as 52 potentially new species, including a shark. "These epaulette sharks have very large pectoral fins that they can use to hobble along the bottom and basically look like they are walking," Troeng notes. The new species include: two confirmed flasher wrasses some suspected new reef-building corals and mantis shrimp. "They are neither mantis nor shrimp, but they look a bit like both of them," Troeng explains. "Some species have been recorded striking so hard that they can break an aquarium glass."


The scientists searched the seascape from Teluk Cenderawasih in the north to the Raja Ampat archipelago in the west and the Fak Fak - Kaimana coastline to the south. In the heart of Asia's coral triangle, the 180,000 square kilometer area full of islands and submerged reefs represents one of the most abundant discoveries ever, dwarfing even Australia's Great Barrier Reef in terms of biodiversity. "The numbers are there to say that it is one of the most diverse areas that has ever been found," says marine biologist Russ Chapman of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. "I personally do not know of a similar example where there was such a richness in terms of new species."


But the unique creatures of the Bird's Head seascape face an uncertain future, given Indonesia's previous plans to expand fishing in the area. "There are a number of emerging threats: some destructive fishing methods, like dynamite or cyanide; the threat from overfishing; and sedimentation from mining or logging might impact coral reefs," Troeng says. "We still have a window of time before these emerging threats become overwhelming."


Initial indications are that the Indonesian government is responsive to protecting its natural heritage, as are local villagers who rely on the sea for their livelihoods. "We're quite optimistic that there will be a system, perhaps of marine protected areas, that will be put in place so that it will be managed in a sustainable manner," Troeng says. "One option that is being considered now is to focus development on promoting sustainable ecotourism." Regardless, it is clear that the world beneath the waves still has plenty to reveal to explorers; future expeditions plan to chart the undersea glories off Madagascar and Brazil. As Chapman notes: "This survey and the discoveries show us how much marine biodiversity remains to be discovered if we can get to some of these sites before they disappear."

Coral Reefs Are Responsible for Ocean Biodiversity

An analysis of the fossil record shows that coral reefs are most often responsible for the diversity of sea life
CORAL CRADLE: Fossil reefs, like the 30,000 year old one pictured here from Vanuatu, reveal that such coral structures serve as cradles for marine biodiversity.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth. It might also represent the most prolific cradle for new types of animals on the planet, according to new research published in the January 8 edition of Science.

"In the oceans, new species and genera tend to originate in the tropics and in the shallows near shore," says paleobiologist Carl Simpson of Humboldt University in Berlin, one of the researchers on the new paper. By using a massive collection of data on fossils from mollusks to South American mammals, which records where a fossil was found, how often it is found and what accompanied it, Simpson and his colleagues find "that a majority of genera first evolve in reefs and then later expand to other habitats."

In fact, of the 6,615 seabed invertebrates surveyed in the so-called Paleobiology Database, 1,426 evolved in a reef ecosystem. And the result is not just an artifact of reef and shallow-water fossils being relatively more studied. "Reefs are actually rare compared to other habitats," Simpson notes. "If anything, there is a bias against finding that reefs are cradles."

The phemonenon of reefs acting as cradles of biodiversity seems to have peaked in the Paleozoic—from 542 million to 251 million years ago—for reasons that are unclear. One possibility is that by seeding other environments with new species, reefs undercut their own preeminence as cradles. "The consequence would be that reefs become one of many important cradles, rather than the most common cradle," Simpson says.

And reefs do not seem to have helped the oceans rebound from mass extinction events, like the one at the end of the Paleozoic era that wiped out as much as 90 percent of marine life. That's likely because "reef-building as a process had to recover from mass extinction events, because the ecosystem engineers that built reefs were severely affected," says marine scientist Richard Aronson of the Florida Institute of Technology, who was not involved with the study. "Reefs in general were not available to enhance biodiversity rebound because they first had to be reconstituted as viable ecosystems."

But coral reefs do offer a variety of ecological niches and "bumpiness," as Aronson puts it, or a "great variety of physical spaces, [water] flow regimes and other ecological opportunities." That has made them cradles not just for sponges and the like but also snails, shrimps, urchins, fishes and even extinct animals like trilobites.

Plus, vicious competition for space and food on a reef leads to a lot of "turnover," Simpson notes, or extinctions that allow for new species to develop as new habitats form or ecological niches open. "If turnover is high, then the brief window of opportunity for new species is a common occurrence."

According to some mathematical estimates, 99.9 percent of all species that have ever existed are now extinct. As it stands, estimates of the number of species on Earth at present range from five million to as many as 100 million, with science having identified only two million members of the biodiversity extant today. That means literally billions of species have come and gone in the 4.5 billion years Earth has existed.

New research will be needed to determine exactly why reefs are such efficient cradles for new life-forms. But the threats faced by coral today—from rising ocean acidity to agricultural runoff and rampant disease—do not bode well for marine biodiversity in the near future. After all, it is possible that during mass extinction events the destruction of reefs might have played a role in the decline of diversity in other marine environments, as well. As Aronson asks: "If modern reefs continue to degrade, will that have cascading evolutionary consequences for other ecosystems by cutting off the supply of new genera?"

The world's most southern coral reef

Unique marine life contributed significantly towards the Island being listed as World Heritage. Here tropical and temporal marine species cohabit, where many are at their ecological limits and where endemism is high. These waters are pristine, relatively untouched with a long standing prohibition of nets, spear guns and other commercial forms of fishing.

The coral from Australia's most southerly fringing reef allows for a development of complex marine communities as it provides an abundance of both food and shelter (there are over 90 types). 490 species of fish, thirteen being endemic only to Lord Howe, Norfolk and Middleton Reef region, and many hundreds of invertebrates (urchins, starfish, crabs, snails, slugs and worms) have been recorded, a process carried out by two surveys.


In 1973 scientists working from the survey vessel El Torito carried out a marine survey, sponsored by a grant from the National Geographic Society. This month long research produced the results of 447 fish from 107 families in the surrounding waters. Neville Coleman's underwater photography in 1979 and 1980 added another 43 species to the list.

Most of the fish at Lord Howe are widely distributed in the Indian and West Pacific Ocean areas as well as the adjacent waters in eastern Australia. With approximately 75 per cent of tropical inshore species, and 15 per cent being temperate, the fish fauna is an amalgamation of tropical and temperate Australia. However this composition differs from one period to another as the periodic influx of cooler southern currents causes fluctuation in the water temperature; temperatures in the lower degrees limit the number of tropical species.

Fish common to the inshore Island waters:

• Amphiprion maccullochi -McCullochs anemonefish, Anampses elegans - Elegant wrasse, Apogon norfolcensis - Norfolk cardinal fish, Goniistius ephippium - Painted morwong, Paraglyphidodon polycanthus - Spiny demoiselle, Parma polyepis - Sailorfish, Pseudolabrus luculentus - Parrotfish wrasse, Trachypoma macracanth - Pacific perch, Pterois volitans - Butterfly cod, Coris bulbifrons - The Double header, Thalassoma lunare - Moon wrasse, Chaetedon sp. - Butterfly fish, Lethrinus nebulosus - Spangled emperor, Coris picta - Comb wrasse, Thalassoma purpureum - Green blocked wrasse, Kyphosus sydneyanus - Silver drummer

Offshore Island Waters:

• Seriola lalandii - Kingfish (local schools rather than migrants from Australia or NZ), Girellacyanea - Bluefish (main angling fish caught on Island waters but occasionally Trevally, Garfish, Salmon and Pearl Perch are taken.)
• Game fish - Marlin, Wahoo, Tuna and "Greenbacks" (giant Kingfish).

The National Marine Fisheries Service has announced that it is launching a full status review to determine whether 82 corals, threatened with extinction by global warming and ocean acidification, warrant the protections of the Endangered Species Act. The decision comes in response to a scientific petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity seeking protection for the corals, followed by a notice of intent to sue for failing to respond to the petition.


“The status review is an important step forward in protecting coral reefs, which scientists have warned may be the first worldwide ecosystem to collapse due to global warming,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Endangered Species Act protection can provide a safety net for corals on the brink of extinction.”

As a result of today’s decision, the 82 corals will be considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act; the government will decide whether endangered or threatened status is warranted for the corals by the end of the year. The new finding concluded that the corals, all of which occur in U.S. waters ranging from Florida and Hawaii to U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific, faced with population declines of 30 percent or greater combined with large scale threats such as climate change and ocean acidification could cause coral populations to collapse and make it difficult for them to recover
“Coral reefs are the world’s most endangered ecosystems and provide an early warning of impacts to come from our thirst for fossil fuels,” said Sakashita. “Within a few decades, global warming and ocean acidification threaten to completely unravel magnificent coral reefs that took millions of years to build.”

When corals are stressed by extreme ocean temperatures, they are vulnerable to bleaching and death. Mass bleaching events have become much more frequent and severe as ocean temperatures have risen in recent decades, and scientists predict that most of the world’s corals will be subjected to mass bleaching events at deadly frequencies within 20 years on our current emissions path. Further, ocean acidification, caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide, impairs the ability of corals to grow and build their protective skeletons. Therefore, global warming and ocean acidification are an overriding threat to coral reefs that have already experienced population declines from threats such as destructive fishing, agriculture runoff, pollution, abrasion, predation, and disease.
Protection under the Endangered Species Act would open the door to greater opportunities for coral reef conservation, as activities ranging from fishing, dumping, dredging, and offshore oil development, all of which hurt corals, would be subject to stricter regulatory scrutiny. The Endangered Species Act would also require federal agencies to ensure that that their actions do not harm corals, which could result in agencies approving projects with significant greenhouse gas emissions to consider and minimize such impacts on vulnerable coral species.The National Marine Fisheries Service is soliciting comments on the corals for 60 days.

Make Earth Day an everyday affair

Make Earth Day an everyday affair

The choices for recycled goods are extensive and the products are readily available. Earth Day is almost upon us and many people are focusing on what they can do to make the world a better place. But after Earth Day, sporadic environmentalists go back to their usual routine and the desire to protect the environment fades. An easy way to keep the spirit of Earth Day alive throughout the rest of the year is to buy recycled content products.

The Buy Recycled Business Alliance contends that most recycled products are equal in quality, appearance and performance to virgin products. In addition, recycled content products undergo stringent testing and exacting performance documentation, which take the guess work out of buying decisions. And, most are priced the same as virgin.

The choices are extensive, and the products are readily available. Items ranging from cars and appliances, to cereal boxes and bathroom tissue, or cabinets and tile flooring are available in recycled content, and most can be found right alongside virgin products. According to the Buy Recycled Business Alliance, the key to shopping wisely is to "Look, Ask and Persist." Here are some tips to help do this.

Look:

• Look on the product's packaging for information about recycled content. Although manufacturers are not required to label products which contain recycled content, many are doing so to make it easier for the consumer to make choices.
• Look for recycled content versus a product that is recyclable. Just because a product is labeled as recyclable does not mean that it is made from recycled materials. Recyclable products are good, but recycled content ones are even better.
• Look for the amount of recycled content in the product. There is no right or wrong amount, but the more, especially "post-consumer content," the better. So, compare the products you are considering to see which one has the most recycled content and select the one with the higher percentage.

Ask:

• Don't hesitate to seek help when in doubt. The Buy Recycled Business Alliance at the National Recycling Coalition is one resource.
• Ask the seller, vendor or retailer to provide you with information about the manufacturer's program for a product that interests you. Usually a company with a successful recycling operation can provide details about its program.
• Ask for references from people who have used the product. This information should be available, especially for major purchases. Most people will be happy to share what they know. Then, ask how long they have used the product. Question how it is holding up. Ask if they are pleased with its performance. How was its price compared to what they used before?
• Ask about warranties, satisfaction guarantees and other proof-of- performance claims. Most manufacturers automatically back their products with these types of warranties.

Persist:

• Be persistent. Request that your favorite retailer or supplier carry recycled content products. Seek a supplier who knows the facts about recycled content products and request samples. Don't accept "it's not available." Suppliers usually have extensive networks, and recycled content products are available in most categories.(ENN)

Have a sound grounding
Earth Day, which has its origins in the U.S., will be celebrated by thousands of Americans with great fanfare on April 22. Being a holiday for most of them, they will either go out on a picnic, visit a fair, or maybe even organise a rally to celebrate Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson. Most are well-meaning citizens. Asians and others (the middle-class and the elite), who have access to the Internet and who are environment-conscious, will find their own ways of celebrating this day. Otherwise, Earth Day will be just another day to strike off the calendar. Most people in Asia, especially from developing countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, would remain largely unaware. They would be busy about their daily chores. A majority of these would care less, even if told it is Earth Day, because they have to work to earn their daily bread.

However, even in the U.S., while Earth Day does serve to promote environmental values, it also reveals the environmental movement's limitations, according to a political science professor at the University of Maine. "A number of environmental groups consider the holiday's very popularity to be its own undoing as corporate and business groups use Earth Day as an opportunity to define themselves as supportive of the environment," says Amy Fried. "The holiday has proved to be a mixed legacy reflecting the schisms permeating American environmentalism."

Fried, who is interested in how events such as Earth Day shape our politics, culture and values, surveyed staff members at 18 major environmental organisations. She asked them to describe their Earth Day activities, to discuss the political or educational nature of Earth Day, and to consider how Earth Day influences the way people view the environment. Her paper on the results of the survey is currently under review by the journal "Environmental Politics."

Most of the respondents agreed that Earth Day reinforces the importance of environmental education, which has become the most successful and enduring part of the 28-year-old holiday. Agreement, however, ended there, reflecting the philosophical differences among environmental groups. Some survey respondents suggested Earth Day has become a "feel good" media story, lacking "political clout." They criticised the emphasis on individual action -- recycling, driving fuel-efficient cars, using cloth grocery bags -- over collective, political action.

However, sharp differences centered on corporate sponsorship. Some groups criticised corporate funding as "greenwashing," while others viewed the practice as a legitimate means of raising funds for the environmental movement. A supporter of sponsorship wrote that if a corporation was moving to be green, it was fine. Many of today's corporate leaders participated in the first Earth Day in college; it turned them into environmentalists. If they try to coopt Earth Day, they'll just help spread environmental propaganda."

But an opponent of sponsorship countered, "Many times waste companies sponsor family events with entertainment, commercial enterprise books and exhibits to promote the idea that polluters are really protectors of the environment."

What we can do

• Use public transport whenever possible
• Separate garbage at source
• Use plastic bags to a minimum
• Increase your awareness about your environment
• Avoid using chemical pesticides
• Reduce, reuse, recycle
• Reduce your paper consumption
• Save water

SAVE YOUR EARTH-SAVE YOUR HOME