 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Cause of disappearing coral still unknown
Raleigh, N.C. (UPI) Dec 28, 2008 The coral reefs covering less than 1 percent of the Earth are disappearing at alarming rates as scientists struggle to learn why, a U.S. researcher says. Marine scientist John Bruno of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said the reefs serve as a valuable home for many marine life forms, including reef fish whose population numbers have declined in conjunction with coral disappearances, The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer reported Sunday. "It's a wonderful murder mystery for ecologists," the associate professor said. "It's not obvious what the cause is. There are lots of potential culprits." Bruno said among the potential causes for the mysterious coral decline are pollution of the world's oceans, slight increases in water temperatures, disease and questionable fishing practices by mankind. Whatever the cause, Bruno told The News & Observer the decline is posing a major risk to the oceans' ecosystems. "It's kind of like losing all the pine trees in Carolina and Georgia," Bruno suggested. "It just changed the ecosystem. That is pretty much what happened under water. We just didn't see it happen." Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
Oscillation Rules As The Pacific Cools
Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 11, 2008The latest image of sea-surface height measurements from the U.S./French Jason-1 oceanography satellite shows the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a strong, cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a large, long-lived pattern of climate variability in the Pacific associated with a general cooling of Pacific waters. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook