Posts Tagged ‘coral reef’
Look after our oceans..
Monday, May 17th, 2010 Global distribution of coral reefs under threat
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Coral Reefs under threat
Diversity of Corals, Algae in Warm Indian Ocean Suggests Resilience to Future Global Warming
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010This is really good news for a small patch of reef…wish it could all find a way to protect itself against the human onslaught..
ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2010) — Penn State researchers and their international collaborators have discovered a diversity of corals harboring unusual species of symbiotic algae in the warm waters of the Andaman Sea in the northeastern Indian Ocean.
“The existence of so many novel coral symbioses thriving in a place that is too warm for most corals gives us hope that coral reefs and the ecosystems they support may persist — at least in some places — in the face of global warming,” said the team’s leader, Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse. According to LaJeunesse, the comprehensiveness of the team’s survey, which also included analysis of the corals and symbiotic algae living in the cooler western Indian Ocean and Great Barrier Reef area of Australia, is unparalleled by any other study.
The team’s findings will be published during the week ending 20 February 2010 in an early online issue of the Journal of Biogeography.
Corals are colonies of tiny animals that derive nutrients and energy from golden-brown, photosynthetic algae that live inside the corals’ cells. “This symbiotic relationship is sensitive to changes in the environment,” said LaJeunesse. “For example,
Coral reefs and climate change
Monday, December 21st, 2009Why weren’t they listening?
Discovery of the Jekyll-and-Hyde Factors in ‘Coral Bleaching’
Monday, December 21st, 2009“ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2009) — Scientists are reporting the first identification of substances involved in the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation that changes harmless marine bacteria into killers that cause “coral bleaching.”
Their study appears in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Dan Bearden and colleagues note that bleaching already has destroyed up to 30 percent of the world’s coral reefs, and scientists are searching for ways to slow or stop the damage. One known culprit is an ocean-dwelling bacterium, Vibrio coralliilyticus, which chokes off corals’ energy supply and kills these shell-clad marine animals. At lower temperatures, the bacteria are harmless to coral. But at warmer temperatures (above 75 degrees Fahrenheit) the bacteria become virulent and can kill coral.
The white areas on this coral are a result of bleaching. Scientists are reporting progress toward understanding how this harmful process occurs. (Credit: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration)
The new study reports identification of three chemicals — betaine, glutamate, and succinate — that V. coralliilyticus produces in warmer water and are involved in the transformation. The discovery opens the door to understanding the biology involved in the complex interactions between corals and bacteria and unraveling the mystery of coral bleaching, the scientists indicated.”
“Seahorse ‘hitchhikes’ Atlantic”
Thursday, November 19th, 2009(BBC)
“Navigating the world’s oceans can be a difficult task for anyone.
For a tiny seahorse with only small fins and a tail for locomotion it seems an impossible task.
However, a seahorse that lives on the western coast of the Atlantic has been found in the Azores almost 5000km away from its possible home.
Researchers suggest the seahorse may have completed the epic journey using its prehensile tail to hitch a ride on a raft of floating sea grass.
An international team of researchers from the UK and the Azores publish their discovery in the Journal of Fish Biology.
Lost at sea
The seahorse was found by a fisherman on the isolated Azores archipelago in the eastern Atlantic.
Two species of seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus and Hippocampus hippocampus are native to Europe and the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal.
We were surprised to identify the unknown seahorse as H. erectus, as this species is found thousands of kilometres away
Dr Paul Shaw
Royal Holloway University of London, UK.
The researchers compared the morphology and DNA of the seahorse with the two native species and found it was a lined seahorse Hippocampus erectus usually found along the Atlantic coast and Caribbean sea coasts of North, Central and South America….”
See the rest of this BBC article
BBC Report “Key Coral Reefs could disappear”
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
BBC Article
“The world’s most important coral region is in danger of being wiped out by the end of this century unless fast action is taken, says a new report.
The international conservation group WWF warns that 40% of reefs in the Coral Triangle have already been lost.
The area is shared between Indonesia and five other South East Asian nations and is thought to contain 75% of the world’s coral species.
It is likened to the Amazon rainforest….”
Read the rest of their article
An excellent time to visit Belize
Saturday, May 16th, 2009Flights from New York are as low as $298 (plus taxes etc) , hotels have dropped their prices by as much as 50% in some cases, the weather is hot and sunny. All these things make it a perfect time to visit us here in Caye Caulker. We never did have any swine flu in Belize, but the tourist industry was hit almost as hard as that in Mexico. Sad for us, but great for the tourists as visitors can take advantage of the lowest prices in years. However please don’t ask us to drop the prices on the tours as these are run at the lowest prices possible already.
All our tours include reserve park fees, purified water, tropical fruits, rental of equipment, and some tours include lunch cooked on the beach. All are guided by licensed and registered guides, mostly by our head guide and owner Carlos Miller, who is well known for his eco-friendly, fun, educational tours, and is highly recommended by both Rough Guide and Lonely Planet.
The sun is shining, the fish are swimming and as colorful as ever, the water is heated and sparkling, the palm trees and hammocks are swaying in a gentle breeze, need we go on?
What are you waiting for?
Destruction of the oceans is a life and death issue for humanity
Thursday, May 14th, 2009“Dying oceans ‘life and death issue’: Indonesia
MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) — The destruction of the world’s oceans due to climate change and overuse is a “life and death issue” for humanity, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday.
“We must come to the rescue of the oceans. We must save them from the ravages of abuse and over-exploitation by humankind, from the havoc due to pollution and dire effects of climate change,” Yudhoyono said at a global conference on oceans….”
Protect the coral reefs to provide for one billion people.
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
(Nadine Pedoe)
Bloggers have been asked to write about World Hunger on this day, in an effort to bring it to the forefront of, and ensure it remains in public consciousness.
Over one billion people worldwide make their daily living from coral reefs, mainly through fishing and tourism. That’s greater than one in seven of the world’s current population. Without these reefs, and their livelihoods, what will all these people do? It isn’t just the wildlife that will benefit from conservation efforts. We are a part and parcel of the natural world. Unless we protect it, how can it protect and provide for us?
Coral reefs provide us with many things on a local and global scale:
- Food
- Income
