Carribean reef victim of global warming?

[sailfin]

Hi!

This is my first post on this forum. I discovered your awsome reef community this week and I'm hooked! I really like the podcasts. I'm catching up listening to them all in sequence now.

I am writing because of a story I just received from my CNN rss feed about the Carribean reef. It looks like the underwater world we collectively worship here is in mortal danger. See CNN story

Makes you almost want to give your aquarium a hug.

[DJGonzo69]

Welcome Sailfin to TR!!

Yeah too bad this is happening to our reefs all over the world. In Australia after that big storm hit the barrier reef was also damaged. Now with global warming it's just another insult to injury. The ironic thing is we humans are partly responsible for what is happening worldwide. Very sad.
-John

[Amphibious]

sailfin

~~to Talking Reef!

Well, that is certainly a depressing story for your first post.

I hate to read stories like that. You want to believe the scientists doing the reporting but, I have dive buddies that dive the caribbean regularly and one that collects fish and inverts. They have not reported losses like the CNN story. So, who do you believe, the global warming community? I don't because there is no solid evidence of global warming just lots of theory and finger pointing. I certainly hope it's a false alarm.

This is a good reason for aquacultured corals to be supported in the hobby.

Anyway, thanks for the link.

Dick

[AdamJ]

I don't because there is no solid evidence of global warming just lots of theory and finger pointing. Dick

Richard,

do not doubt that global warming is occuring. as the earth is in a warming trend right now. (based off of the cyclical pattern derived from geoligical timescales and processes, this is scientific proof) the theroy and debate is to the degree that is anthroprogenic (sp?) (how much of it is our fault. )

[Rob]

i agree with adam on this one..
i dont doubt the effects are there, but what is the real cause.
based on m info (which is by no means great) the earth goes through warming and cooling periods all the time...

im sure we are not helping the situation, but i dont believe we are the sole cause..

that said, i still believe in being eco friendly, and for the hobby, i ALWAYS support and recommend tank raised fish and coral...

[Amphibious]

AdamJ

do not doubt that global warming is occuring. as the earth is in a warming trend right now

Rob

the earth goes through warming and cooling periods all the time...

This is my point. We are in a warming trend. This is a cyclical thing. No one knows the effect of the cycle on coral 500 years, 1,000 years or 10,000 years ago. Now all of a sudden we're worried about it. Okay, we should worry about it. We've only been keeping records about 100 years. Todays technology is much more sophisticated and sensitive than ever before. Certainly we should monitor this but, to point the finger at global warming implies that global warming is not going to reverse itself at the other end of the cycle. Coral reefs are some of the oldest living things on earth. They predate man and will out live man, I predict.

Dick

[Rob]

yep.. and i agree with your point...

[AdamJ]

well the only thing i have to add is that with our great modern tech we can see that there is a significant jump in global CO2 levels. and a paper in nature expresses well enough the implications of such and event in the carbon cycle and its global effects.

also, it is evident that many coral systems have come and gone in the history of the earth. (there used to be reefs off of alaska in the devonian) but withthem we can see the sediment deposits arounf the skelital structures and see the time it took for thier demise, and global hapenings. these indicators are showign that changes in our current time are happening at a greater rate of time and intensity.

sorry for the bad spelling... spell check is my hero

[AdamJ]

another great point is that coral reef s are an excelent indicator species.
in that they (broad generality here) and they critters that live on them are fairly picky on where they live and its conditions. and thier issues show us that a change is occuring from the ideal that we know when they are happy.

[fishcounter]

Are the cycling periods getting warmer and more intense though? I agree with the side that says we are a major part of the problem. Our living standards pump Carbon Dioxide into the air at alarming rates. I can't preach too heavily because just like the rest of the world, I drive a car, etc. Sure, there are other causes for global warming, but planes, trains, and automobiles are leading the pack. I feel very strongly about this because I want my kids to be able to go outside and enjoy the weather some day. A lot of people deny the fact that human living influences global warming, but I feel that thats just ignoring the problem and shoving all the responsibility off to future generations at which time it will be to late. k-I'm done now. I hope I didn't offend anyone.

[Cjvolitan]

Well guys being the only person who actually lives in the Caribbean I think it is safe to say that what the scientist have reported in the cnn story is true for Some not all Caribbean reefs.
Here in Trinidad and Tobago our coral reefs have been severely affect by wide spread bleaching The cause of which is not yet know though several fingers have been pointed.
At my university ( The University Of The West Indies ) several graduate studies are being conducted on this bleaching problem, The out come of these studies should be very interesting to say the least.
Our barrier reefs have been hit particularly badly and it is really sad the reef is no longer as full of life as I remember it, in my childhood years. Global warming, Over fishing, exploitation of the reef, tourism and development are all to blame in this horrible disaster.
I just hope that we will be able to stop this regression of the reef before the coral reefs of the Caribbean become a thing of the past.

[Reefbaby]

Regardless of who/what has caused/is causing global warming, I believe very strongly that we, citizens of Earth, have a responsibility to live as environmentally-friendly as possible. This includes simple things such as recycling, reducing depency on CO2/particle-emitting vehicles, developing fuel-efficient cars, reducing the amount of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers, monocultures, etc, etc.

Nevertheless, the pursuit of aquarology and reefkeeping will hopefully educate all of us and the people that "ooh" and "aah" over our tanks and motivate us all to "love" our Earth a little bit more!

had to join in on the philosophical discussion too! :-)

[kj_yoda]

There is definatley a cyclical warming trend happening now. I head a scientist speak about "el nino" and its effects on corals. She has tracked coral back to 900 AD.

We can definately do better with, especially, the US's dependance on SUVs and other gas guzzlers. I wish we could have fuel cell cars...hopefully soon

[Cjvolitan]

yeah we all need to think a little more green.

[kj_yoda]

I loved the superbowl commercials..."Its not easy being Green"

- Kermit the Frog

[UMpg]

it's true that the earth's temperature goes through cycles, and that there has historically been temperatures higher than what we are seeing right now, but what's important is how quickly we are seeing temperatures rise. i don't have any numbers at the moment to back this up, but temperatures are rising very quickly, and they will continue to rise very quickly, and this is where the problem lies. a reef may be able to adapt to a 5 degree change (just a hypothetical example) over a period of a few hundred years, but not over a few years. I think this was mentioned earlier, but if you were to look at a graph of CO2 emissions and temperature increase over the past 100 years, it is very hard to argue that there is a correlation. maybe we are just accelerating what would be a normal warming trend. who knows, but we certainly are having an impact. temperature induced bleaching is only one problem...
sorry to be kinda depressing, but this is something i do feel strongly about.