Healthiest coral reefs hardest hit by climate change

[GordMay]

Interesting discussion on climate change - but slightly off-topic.
I propose we take it to a dedicated “Climate Change” thread at:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ange-8284.html

[Zach]

Is this strictly water temperature related, or is it light related?

A buddy of mine cares for live reef tanks, and the closer/more powerful the lights above the tank the greater the chance of bleaching.

[schoonerdog]

Temp related, Coral can only survive within a very narrow temperature range, certain corals such as rice corals are more sensitive to warmer temperatures than finger corals. Above their threshold temperature, the coral expels their little helper single cell organisms that they depend upon. The can recover if the water temperature drops significantly and they are downstream of healthy coral, but after several months algea grow on the coral and then permanently kill them. It's happening in every ocean right now as the temperatures have universally raised to the top end of their threshold.

Originally Posted by Zach

Is this strictly water temperature related, or is it light related?

A buddy of mine cares for live reef tanks, and the closer/more powerful the lights above the tank the greater the chance of bleaching.

[cooper]

The Australian government has stated that it believes that the Great barrier reef is in real trouble, (although somewhat reluctantly) The Queensland goverment is actually looking at ways of "saving" small representitive sections for future generations . These methods have included discusions of things such as massive shade cloths and water cooling devices as well as taking slices and moving them into controlled enviroments on land. A bit of a sad situation really.........