Earthsky Interviews
Private: Just a few degrees of warming affects coral reefs
06-07-2007 - Water
Mark Eakin is concerned about coral reefs around the globe.
And he wanted us to tell you that just a few degrees of ocean warming makes a big difference to the reefs.
Mark Eakin: Over the time that I’ve been diving on coral reefs such as those in the Florida Keys for over 30 years, we’ve seen major changes in the reef systems. They’ve been degraded over the last few decades tremendously. And so, much of the beautiful coloration that was present before, the lush life that was present in terms of the corals themselves, has died and left a system that is much less capable of supporting fish and other marine life.
Eakin is the project coordinator for NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said that even a small ocean warming has profound effects.
Mark Eakin: These small increases in temperature that we’ve seen over the past two decades correspond with the increases in bleaching we’ve seen on a large scale.
Eakin said coral reefs might be able to recover from bleaching, but they’ll need to rapidly adapt to survive in a warmer ocean.
He said humans can help by cutting down other environmental stresses like pollution to give the reefs a fighting chance in a warming world.
Our thanks today to “NOAA”:http://www.noaa.gov, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The images to the left show a coral becoming bleached over a three month period. Image courtesy US National Park Service, Virgin Islands National Park.
As ocean temperatures rise, corals begin to lose the algae that give them their food and vibrant color. The corals starve and turn white, or bleach. Coral bleaching episodes are now occurring more often, due to global warming, according to Eakin.
Eakin also said, “In 2005, two months of temperatures only one to two degrees above the normal summertime maximum caused corals to bleach and die across much of the Caribbean.
When ocean temperatures rise only one degree above normal, corals begin to lose the algae that provide their food and coloration. This bleaching can starve the corals and high temperatures also cause disease outbreaks. Warm waters in 2005 caused the most intense bleaching and death of corals ever seen in the Caribbean. Our satellite data show that the high temperatures that cause coral bleaching, disease, and death have increased over the last 22 years. As temperatures have risen over past decades, the problem of coral bleaching has become far worse around the world.”
“A few degrees of warming can make a big difference,” he said.
has this site turned into a “everone get in the basement the end is upon us alarmist meeting? coral fossils date back almost to the beginning of life on the planet, through meteor strikes and volcanic eruptions, which our efforts to kill the environment pale by comparison. yet there is life on the planet. intelligent life is debatable.why dont we just do our thing and let mother earth erase and start again or allow us to learn and continue.i agree we should be vigilant in cleaning up our act but please people is every artical about …your factual world of climbing temperature change? lets see something on spitzer space telescope, or education studies or behavioral genetics.dna studies are proving so much its scary or cool depends on how you see it.
p.s. i have lived in florida the 39 years of my life and visit pennecamp state park regularly. some places close to the outlets of estuaries are dying and places visited by people are dying . the reasons are sugar growers and runoff and touching the coral and running aground. not global warning.fertilizers introduce nutrients and this creates algal blooms coral bleaching and red tides which also kill fish. its a cycle of destruction. i say if we just get these humans out of the picture itll be ok. or we can educate them. not by only telling them the temps going up but also covering other reasons.
I think everyone should try his best to prevent the bleaching of the coral.Even the solution of the globle warming is not found yet.Just do something to protect the envirment.
hello can you please get some more information on the effects of global warming on coral reefs. because i have read through all the information and i think it all just describes the same things but in different words. thankyou for reading
i have too
Eakin mentions that the reefs could recover if they adapt, just as all living organisms have adapted to changing circumstance through evolution and survived. I guess we are very concerned because we don’t know how fast they could adapt, if they do so at all. And as others mentioned, we don’t even know for sure that global warming is the sole cause.
Eakin mentions that the reefs could recover if they adapt, just as all living organisms have adapted to changing circumstance through evolution and survived. I guess we are very concerned because we don’t know how fast they could adapt, if they do so at all. And as others mentioned, we don’t even know for sure that global warming is the sole cause. It is, however, all very sad and hope we can realistically do something about it.
You’re so right, Erika! The rate of temperature change on Earth in the coming century is a primary concern. The speed at which Earth’s plants and animals will be required to adapt …
Nature is resilient, though. There’s another study about coral that has encouraging news about coral’s ability to recover, in places where fish populations are preserved: Protected coral reef found to recover