Gibbens, S. (2022, March 10). Climate-resilient coral species offer hope for the world’s reefs. Environment. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-resilient-coral-species-offer-hope-for-world-reefs
Reefs are being affected by human activities such as carbon emissions and overfishing for example. However there are two coral species that are so far surviving this marine heat wave. The ocean absorbs carbon from the air but there is so much that the ocean is taking so much causing acidification. They experimented differently; they took a couple tanks filled with normal reef/ ocean life and put it outside coconut island to see what would happen after 22 months. Many were struggling but some were doing well, that gives new hope for our future.
This leaves new hope for global warming, coral is very sensitive to the environment. That is why global warming is so bad because a few degrees higher means warming water and that leads to coral bleaching. Even though it is a wonderful surprise that it is possible for some coral to survive in warmer waters they can only survive in a couple degrees warmer water. Its also scary that the water temperature is increasing so rapidly in almost 2 years. That coral will most likely die out within a couple years a year even if the water temperature is rising that quickly.
I completely agree with you. I think it’s very scary how hot the oceans are getting and so fast. I also think it’s scary that climate change is affecting all of the world and all life. I am happy, though, that we have found some hope in the darkness of climate change, and I hope that we find more. Do you think there is anything else we can do to stop the water temperature from rising or just anything to save the coral reefs?
It’s really interesting that these acidification-tolerant corals manage to survive so well. Are these species invasive and if not could they be implanted in areas where coral is dying at alarming rates?