File:Coral bleaching Great Barrier Reef 2016.jpeg

Coral as a canary, a sentinel species

Coral reefs in peril as ocean environment is transformed

-- http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/coral-growth-already-being-affected-by-acidifying-oceans-new-research-finds-20160223-gn1vs4.html

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Underwater Heat Wave Devastates Great Barrier Reef

Hardest-hit area includes some of Australia’s most remote and pristine coral

March 29, 2016

CANBERRA, Australia — An underwater heat wave is devastating huge swaths of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, marine researchers have found.

A Nightmare is Unfolding in the Great Barrier Reef -- http://gizmodo.com/a-nightmare-is-unfolding-in-the-great-barrier-reef-1767702006

Great Barrier Reef bleaching may be last wake-up call, marine scientists say

Extensive bleaching has been caused by higher ocean temperatures

To prevent further damage, governments should commit to lowering emissions, an Australian team says

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0329/Great-Barrier-Reef-bleaching-may-be-last-wake-up-call-marine-scientists-say

"This has been the saddest research trip of my life," James Cook University professor Terry Hughes, the convener of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, said in a press release after the team aerially surveyed almost 2,500 miles of the northern Australia reefs.

Coral bleaching is a modern phenomenon, marine scientists say; Over the past 400 years, there's no evidence of bleaching events until the late 20th century. Changing environmental factors like rising sea temperatures can cause the coral to expel their photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae, making many turn stark white. Others remain vivid, but have lost the green and brown hues that signal health. Without the symbiotic algae to process sunlight into oxygen and other nutrients, the coral dies.

Sydney, Australia - The Worst Bleaching Event

"What we're seeing now is unequivocally to do with climate change," Prof Justin Martin University of Queensland told the ABC

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-- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/29/huge-swaths-of-the-great-barrier-reef-are-seeing-severe-coral-bleaching-scientists-say/

-- http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/03/29/australias-great-barrier-reef-hit-by-sev?videoId=367910095

-- http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2016/mar/30/link-between-fossil-fuels-and-great-barrier-reef-bleaching-clear-and-incontrovertible-say-scientists

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Going 'White': The Loss of Coral Reefs

Most reef-building corals have mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships with a microscopic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae... The coral provides the algae with a protected environment and the compounds necessary for photosynthesis...

Mass expulsion of zooxanthellae leaves coral appearing white as coral tissue itself is mostly transparent and their calcium carbonate skeletons are white.

This phenomenon is termed coral bleaching.

-- http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcorals/coral101/symbioticalgae/

Category;Environmental Protection