News for the Week of 3/28- 4/3

Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching

Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching is the "Worst In Its History"

           

            This article written by Mindy Weisberger on April 1, 2016 for Live Science is an overview of the coral bleaching occurring in the Great Barrier Reef. According to a statement released March 29th by The Australian Research Council this incident is "the worst mass coral bleaching in its history". In an aerial survey done by the National Coral Bleaching Task Force(NCBT) it was found that the majority of the 500 reefs surveyed were undergoing severe bleaching. The coral bleaching is due in part by the rising temperatures of ocean water and in part by El Niño, and because it is estimated that El Niño will last through 2016 it is not looking good for the corals' recovery. Rebecca Albright told Live Science that it is still too early to tell if there will be any long-term bleaching effects on the coral, but estimates of coral losses show an expected loss of 50%, and the bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef is only a small part of the global bleaching occurring right now. Reefs in New Caledonia, Fiji, and southern Indonesia are all experiencing severe coral bleaching, creating a global bleaching event.
           
            According to the article "the reef contains 400 types of coral and hosts 1,500 types of fish and 4,000 mollusk species, as well as other marine life such as large green turtles and dugongs ("sea cows")" and "covers 134,364 square miles (348,000 square kilometers), making it larger than the U.K., Switzerland and the Netherlands combined", and an incredibly large ecosystem. Currently 95% of this ecosystem's northern reefs corals are severely bleached and up to 50% of them could end up dying, severely damaging the biodiversity in the reef. All of which would be caused in a large part by global warming due to the increase in the amount of green house gasses released into to atmosphere by humans. Because of this I have a hard time being as optimistic as Albright who believes that the reef will bounce back. We have seen the impact of global warming for the last 38 years and little has been done about it and I don't believe that much more will be done any time soon, so even if the corals did begin to recover it seems highly unlikely that they will ever be able to fully recover unless people begin to take climate change seriously and realize that it could have a serious impact on not only many ecosystems around the world but also on the way we live our lives.

Weisberger, Mindy."Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching Is "Worst in History"" 
Live Science. Live Science, 1 Apr. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.
http://www.livescience.com/54272-great-barrier-reef-worst-coral-bleaching.html

Coral Destruction to the Great Barrier Reef

         In this article written by the Union of Concerned Scientists for Climate Hot Map they discuss the impact that coral bleaching will have on the Great Barrier reef in the future. It is stated that due to the rise in the amount of CO2 adsorbed by the ocean and in turn the increased acidity of the oceans reefs are eroding faster now than ever before.  It is expected that by 2030 annual bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef will begin if today's trends in pollution, global warming, and rising ocean temperatures continue. As more and more corals die off the amount of species that the reef can support decreases, resulting in a lack of biodiversity on the reef in a decade, and possibly a 95% decrees in this century. If these changes in the Great Barrier Reef actually occur it could significantly harm the local economy by effecting fishing and tourism in the area.

               Not only is coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef effecting the species that live in the reef but also the lives of the people who live around the reef who rely on the resources from the reef. So when are we going to do something to help the reef recover? There is plenty we can do to reduce carbon emissions and prevent global warming, its just a matter of when we do these things. As I mentioned in my summary it is estimated that by 2030 there will be an annual coral bleaching and within the next century a possible 95% decrees in the diversity of the Great Barrier Reef,  meaning continuous damage to the Great Barrier Reef and the resources that come from it. We have 14 years before global warming causes serious damage to the Great Barrier Reef and it is important that we use those 14 years to find ways to protect our environment and help it recover from the damage that has already been done.

The Union of Concerned Scientists. "Great Barrier Reef, Australia. "

Climate Hot Map: Global Warming Effects Around the World. Union of 

Concerned Scientists, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2016.

 <http://www.climatehotmap.org/about/climate-hot-map.html#team>.