Posts Tagged ‘research’
From National Geographic: Diver “Vanishes” in Portal to Maya Underworld
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 Global distribution of coral reefs under threat
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Coral Reefs under threat
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.”
Earthquake in Honduras/Belize – why?- the science behind it (Part One)
Saturday, May 30th, 2009(Nadine Pedoe)
On 28th May 2009, Central America was rocked by a strong earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, which has luckily caused far less damage and fewer fatalities than it may have done. Earthquakes affecting Belize are extremely rare, so it has caused a lot of panic. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning in the immediate aftermath of the quake, causing further panic amongst island and coastal dwellers. Hopefully understanding some of the science behind it can relieve some of those fears.
Why did it happen and is it likely to happen again?
Earthquakes and volcanoes are caused by movements of massive plates that make up the crust of the earth. All the land and ocean rests on one or other of these plates, which form a kind of jigsaw pattern around the earth. The plates move very slowly in relation to each other, just a few inches a year, caused by heat cells in the liquid mantle (made of magma) below them. Where these plates meet is known as a plate boundary, of which there are four different kinds.
Three of the kinds of plate boundary (from Wikipedia)
Constructive plate boundary (or divergent)
The plates move apart (more…)
Could our reefs dissolve?
Thursday, March 12th, 2009A new study just out claims that the release of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere and hence into the oceans could actually make the corals disolve. We’ve been hearing for a while that our use of fossil fuels is poisoning our oceans, making them more acidic, and will stop the corals growing, eventually killing them but this is the first study that states they will start to dissolve if we don’t stop. The study also claims that there is time to save them, but only if we act now!
