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Global-warming weakened reefs could suffer more storm damage mongabay.com November 23, 2006
Researchers from the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) at James Cook University produced the first engineering model to predict how much damage a reef is likely to suffer from violent wave action. "Coral reef experts have long had a general sense of which coral shapes are more vulnerable during storms than others," said lead author, Dr. Joshua Madin, who now works at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in California. "However, to really predict how these events impact the dynamics of coral reefs we needed a way to quantify these vulnerabilities. "Our study offers a solution to this longstanding problem by factoring in the shape of different coral colonies, the strength of the sea-bed to which they attach and the change in force of the waves as they move across the reef. This enables us to predict the likely changes in composition of the coral in response to present and future storms or tsunamis." According to the scientists, their research "introduces a new concept — colony shape factor (CSF) — to translate the myriad shapes and sizes of coral colonies onto a simple scale that measures their vulnerability to dislodgment. Any severe event, like a cyclone, imposes a threshold that can be scored on the same scale, allowing scientists to determine which corals will live and which will die."
Reef conservation tool The researchers say their new model will can serve as a reef management tool. "The predictive tool we have developed allows managers to assess the vulnerability of their reefs to extreme wave events," said Dr. Madin. "The ability to estimate the potential damage on a reef for different disaster scenarios could help managers plan for economic losses as well as promote strategies that help the reef recover." "Regardless of whether we think of more severe storms as a looming threat or just the ramping up of a natural cycle, one thing is certain," says Dr Sean Connolly, a CoECRS researcher and professor at James Cook University. "To predict how coral reefs will look under different future scenarios, and to plan accordingly, we needed to know exactly how wave forces impact who lives and who dies on the reef. These new models provide us with that essential tool." RELATED ARTICLES Increasingly acidic oceans damaging to marine life Carbon dioxide emissions are altering ocean chemistry and putting sea life at risk according to a new report released today. The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," summarizes known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on marine organisms that produce calcium carbonate skeletal structures, such as corals. Oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994 according to the report, resulting in increased ocean acidity, which reduces the availability of carbonate ions needed for the production of calcium carbonate structures. Coral reefs decimated by 2050, Great Barrier Reef's coral 95% dead Australia's Great Barrier Reef could lose 95 percent of its living coral by 2050 should ocean temperatures increase by the 1.5 degrees Celsius projected by climate scientists. The startling and controversial prediction, made last year in a report commissioned by the World Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Queensland government, is just one of the dire scenarios forecast for reefs in the near future. The degradation and possible disappearance of these ecosystems would have profound socioeconomic ramifications as well as ecological impacts says Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, head of the University of Queensland's Center for Marine Studies. This article is based on a news release from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Recommend this article? Comments? >Digg this article | >Hugg this article | Contact News options SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
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