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September 17, 2014
Carnegie Institution
Researchers working in Australia's Great Barrier Reef have documented
that coral growth rates have plummeted 40 percent since the mid-
1970s. The scientists suggest that ocean acidification may be playing
an important role in this perilous slowdown.
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Effect of ocean acidification: Coral growth rate on Great Barrier Reef
plummets in 30-year comparison
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Credit: Carnegie Institution for Science President
Matthew P. Scott
[Click to enlarge image]
A
This is an underwater photograph of coral and the life the it supports near Lizard
Island.
team of researchers working on a Carnegie expedition in Australia's
Great Barrier Reef has documented that coral growth rates have
plummeted 40% since the mid-1970s. The scientists suggest that
ocean acidification may be playing an important role in this perilous
slowdown.
In a quest for historical context on the peril facing
coral reefs, the team compared current
measurements of the growth rate of a section of
Australia's Great Barrier Reef with similar
measurements taken more than 30 years ago. Their
work is published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta.
Coral reefs are havens for biodiversity and crucial for
the economies of many coastal communities. But
they are very sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry
resulting from human activity. Since the beginning of
the Industrial Revolution about one-third of the carbon
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dioxide, CO
2
, which has been released into the
atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and land use
change has been absorbed by the oceans, where it
damages coral reefs.
Coral reefs use a mineral called aragonite to make their skeletons, a process called
calcification. It is a naturally occurring form of calcium carbonate, CaCO
3
. When
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, it forms carbonic acid,
H
2
CO
3
, which makes the ocean more acidic and decreases its pH. This makes it
more difficult for many marine organisms to grow their shells and skeletons, and
threatens coral around the globe.
Recent studies have shown a reduction in individual coral growth in the Great Barrier
Reef, southern Thailand, and the central Red Sea of between 13 percent and to 24
percent over the last few decades. But well-characterized observations of carbonate
chemistry trends weren't made at those sites, so it isn't possible to draw a direct line
of causality between the acidification of the ocean and a decline in coral skeleton
building.
In order to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between acidification and
decreased calcification, a team led by Carnegie's Ken Caldeira and including
Carnegie's Jacob Silverman (the lead author) and Kenneth Schneider, formerly of
Carnegie, compared measurements of the rate of calcification in one segment of
Australia's Great Barrier Reef called Bird Island that were taken in between 1975 and
1979 to those made at the neighboring Lizard Island in 2008 and 2009.
The team found that rates of reef calcification were 40 percent lower in 2008 and 2009
than they were during the same season in 1975 and 1976.
However, the team was not able to demonstrate a change in the amount of live coral
covering the reef structure over the three decade period.
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MLA APA Chicago
Carnegie Institution. "Effect of ocean acidification: Coral growth rate on Great
Barrier Reef plummets in 30-year comparison." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17
September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140917121225.htm>.
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If the reef in Australia is as sensitive to ocean acidification as was estimated by lead
author Jack Silverman of Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research Ltd in his
previous work in Israel, then the increase in ocean acidification would be sufficient to
explain the 40 percent decline.
Previous work by the group projected that all of the reefs in the world may be
dissolving in a few decades if current carbon dioxide emission trends continue.
"Coral reefs are getting hammered," said Caldeira. "Ocean acidification, global
warming, coastal pollution, and overfishing are all damaging coral reefs. Coral reefs
have been around for millions of years, but are likely to become a thing of the past
unless we start running our economy as if the sea and sky matters to us very soon."
Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by Carnegie Institution. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1. J. Silverman, K. Schneider, D.I. Kline, T. Rivlin, A. Rivlin, S. Hamylton, B. Lazar, J.
Erez, K. Caldeira. Community calcification in Lizard Island, Great Barrier
Reef: A 33 year perspective. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2014; DOI:
10.1016/j.gca.2014.09.011
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