Dead reefs may come back to life, says study

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(CBS News) The widespread collapse and death of coral reefs in oceans around the globe is considered one of the most important environmental challenges in the world. A new study from the Florida Institute of Technology says that there may be hope for dead reefs. It is possible that coral reefs may be able to weather the storm of climate change and regrow - it's happened before.

Richard Aronson and his team at FIT studied coral reefs off the Pacific coast of Panama. The reefs in this corner of the ocean are vibrant and home to hundreds of species of ocean-dwellers. The FIT team took core samples from the reefs to determine their lifespan, much like tree experts count the rings of trees.

"We jammed 17-foot-long irrigation pipes down into the reef and pulled out a history, a section of the reef, that told us what the ups and downs of the reef had been," Aronson said in an interview with NPR.

The results were surprising. The 6,000-year old reefs lived a far more varied life than their immobile nature would suggest. The reef grew faster or slower in response to ocean temperatures. It had even died.

"These reefs were shut down for 2,500 years," Aronson said, "and the reefs have only been living for 6,000 years, so that represents about 40 percent of their entire history. So that's really shocking."

Aronson and his colleagues, including researchers from an array of institutions, believe that natural climate change was responsible for killing off the coral. They point to the effects of El Nino and La Nina, two weather events which can drastically change the ocean temperature. These events were far more extreme in the 2,500 year period under study from Aronson. However, once the global climate moderated those extremes, the reefs began growing again.

"It seemed to be fairly instantaneous," Aronson told NPR. "About 2,000 years ago or so, some corals that are not the main reef-building corals started up, and then maybe 500 years later, around 1,500 years ago, the main coral started growing again very rapidly."

Naturally, the FIT study hopes to look to the future by peering the past. If coral reefs were able to survive rising ocean temperatures in the past, it is possible they can do so again. Global climate change could lead to noticeably higher water temperatures, with devastating consequences for sensitive coral reefs. 

Aronson, for his part, is looking on the bright side.

"What [this study] tells me is that these reefs do have hope, and if we are able to get a handle on climate change, then we might be able to save coral reefs," Aronson said.

[aviatrixx]

The point that most people are missing is that there are multiple causes of changes in climate: the natural variations that have occurred for billions of years as well as man-made changes. The earth can adapt to changes, but in geologic time frames: thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. When the added pressure of man's rapidly increasing the rate of warming is added to the natural flucuations, it can be too much for certain organisms to adapt to. In the fullness of geologic time, another organsm will evolve to fill the niche left empty by an extinction, but that doesn't help us short-lived humans! If we kill off the reefs by warming the water too much, fish and other marine life could collapse. Removing that huge food source from the planet is unthinkable. Sure, in a few million years (most likely after this infestation known as man is extinct) the oceans will likely recover, but will that make starvation any more palatable? Nature seeks balance and equilibrium. If one element is rapidly altered or removed, the effect on the rest of the ecosystem is akin to a child on a see-saw jumping off and leaving the other child to plummet to the ground. Man's influence on the evironment has rapidly increased in the last 300 years or so. We must slow that influence to more manageable levels now, before it is too late. There is no Planet B!

[aviatrixx]

The point that most people are missing is that there are multiple causes of changes in climate: the natural variations that have occurred for billions of years as well as man-made changes. The earth can adapt to changes, but in geologic time frames: thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. When the added pressure of man's rapidly increasing the rate of warming is added to the natural flucuations, it can be too much for certain organisms to adapt to. In the fullness of geologic time, another organsm will evolve to fill the niche left empty by an extinction, but that doesn't help us short-lived humans! If we kill off the reefs by warming the water too much, fish and other marine life could collapse. Removing that huge food source from the planet is unthinkable. Sure, in a few million years (most likely after this infestation known as man is extinct) the oceans will likely recover, but will that make starvation any more palatable? Nature seeks balance and equilibrium. If one element is rapidly altered or removed, the effect on the rest of the ecosystem is akin to a child on a see-saw jumping off and leaving the other child to plummet to the ground. Man's influence on the evironment has rapidly increased in the last 300 years or so. We must slow that influence to more manageable levels now, before it is too late. There is no Planet B!

[FUNKREVOLT]

I suppose it should be suggested that while the earth has been going through varying temperature ranges, the main concept to take away from this article is that the coral reef is RESILIENT.

"It seemed to be fairly instantaneous," Aronson told NPR. "About 2,000 years ago or so, some corals that are not the main reef- building corals started up, and then maybe 500 years later, around 1,500 years ago, the main coral started growing again very rapidly."

So this warming happened 2000 years ago? I guess we can't blame that on greenhouse gasses produced by cars, can we? Perhaps this is natural for a planet affected by so many forces, one of which being an uneven, shifting axis.

Don't miss only half of the information - That reef will likely outlive our species.

[johne37179-2]

Reefs have gone through these cycles for hundreds of millions of years, not just the last few thousand. Climate has always changed. For most of earth's history the planet has been a lot warmer than the present -- and reefs have been around continually since corals first evolved.

[RankinFitch]

"What [this study] tells me is that these reefs do have hope, and if we are able to get a handle on climate change, then we might be able to save coral reefs," Aronson said.

That's a BIG if! Learned scientists can't even agree if humans are the primary cause of global warming. Even more important: We don't have the slightest clue how to fix the problem, ie, "getting a handle on climate change".

I don't know who pays for these studies, but it is like studying why the tent has a strange smell. No one bothers to look around and see that the camel is way past putting his nose in the tent... he is standing a few feet away! Oh, well, publish or perish.