Scientists assess health of U.S. coral reefs
A recent assessment of U.S. coral reefs by 160 scientists indicated that, while coral reefs have always been fragile, today many are being overwhelmed. View NOAA's Coral Kingdom photo library to see more images of coral reef ecosystems.
DB: Earth & Sky spoke to Jeannette Waddell of the National Ocean Service. She edited and contributed to a major scientific assessment of coral, released in 2005.
JB: One hundred sixty scientists helped in this first-ever attempt to pull together monitoring data, with the goal of providing a status report on U.S. coral reef ecosystems.
Jeannette Waddell: …We looked at three basic groupings of data. Water quality parameters, benthic habitat parameters ? and those are basically the sea floor community, the benthos ? and the associated biological communities, which are the fish, all of the invertebrates, and the things that move around within the coral reef ecosystem.
DB: The assessment showed that, while coral reefs have always been fragile, today many are being overwhelmed.
Jeannette Waddell: The big issue here is the resilience of coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs have always experienced natural stressors such as tropical storms and some degree of sedimentation… But now, because they’re facing so many challenges and so many stressors, the resilience of reefs that allows them to bounce back after some of these threats, they’re just not able to bounce back the way they have in the past….
JB: We have more about coral, including links to the coral report, at earthsky.org. Special thanks today to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
Waddell pointed out that coral reefs have always been fragile, and there have always been threats. Some are natural threats such as tropical storms. And some are human threats brought in part by increased development along coastal areas, which has increased runoff and sedimentation polluting coral waters.
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Additional Teacher Resources
NOAA: Coral Health and Monitoring Program
Welcome to the NOAA Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP). Our mission is to provide services and information sources for researchers and the public in order to help improve and sustain coral reef health throughout the world. In order to answer a variety of questions related to coral reefs and this program we have included an extensive listing of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
NASA: Coral Reef Health and Biodiversity Research
Coral reefs provide essential habitat for the world’s greatest marine biodiversity, as well as coastline protection, often providing first clues about marine ecosystem health because of the immediate response to environmental changes. Unfortunately, these “canaries of the oceans” are in peril due to climate and human impacts.
