220 likes | 226 Vues
Coral Reefs: The End?. Oceanography in the News New Species Discovered. A Marine Sanctuary. French Frigate Shoals, NW Hawaiian Islands--100 new species discovered (from Oct 31, 2006; www.sciencedaily.com.
E N D
Oceanography in the NewsNew Species Discovered A Marine Sanctuary French Frigate Shoals, NW Hawaiian Islands--100 new species discovered (from Oct 31, 2006; www.sciencedaily.com And from October, 2007; many new species discovered in biodiversity hotspot--Celebes Sea, off Indonesia http://news.nationalgeographic.com
Red= warm currents / Black = cold currents /Orange= waterof 20°C or more Note orange zone and compare to coral reef distribution in next slide
Energy Flow in Reefs • The trophic pyramid for coral reef ecosystems • Diverse, mostly small organisms • Phytoplankton play a minor role!
General model of a platform-margin barrier reef presented by James (1983).
Back reef Reef crest Fore reef
Unhealthy signs • Coral “black band” disease (possibly a virus or bacterial infection) kills coral tissue, especially if corals are already under stress for some other environmental factor. • The Crown-of-Thorns starfish can wipe out huge tracts of coral reef. These occur in the western Pacific Ocean and proliferate rapidly when predators are somehow affected (human activity?)
Corals in Decline • Many coral reef areas are in decline. Is this natural (have we been looking carefully for long enough?)? Or is is it anthropogenic in origin? • Beautiful appearing “white” corals are, unfortunately, not healthy • Upper panel shows “black band” disease progressing, while the lower panel is a brain coral that is “bleached”--expelled its zooxanthellae (?) Both in Florida reef tracts. Images courtesy Gene Shinn, USGS
Unhealthy Signs • Parrot fish eating blue-green algae which is growing over coral • Below, urchins graze over coral heads (dead)
Some Potential Contributors to Coral Reef Demise • Urbanization brings additional problems • Such as: • sediment (from development, agriculture) influx and • excess nutrients (effluents from sewage treatment, septic systems) • Overfishing (note: a general problem with popularity of reef fish for aquaria) USGS, Hawaii
The Florida Keys wetlands Florida bay Florida reef tract keys
Florida Reefs Florida Reefs--our legacy!
Just to Add to the Corals’ Woes • Eugene Shinn, a USGS scientist, proposed recently that the ubiquitous African dust blowing westward off the Sahara might be responsible for some coral diseases (soil-borne microbes that infect polyps). Thus, humans may not be entirely responsible for the demise of coral reefs. • And there is more in Section 7…onward