Will we ever… lose all of our coral reefs?

[Jazzy]

All over the world, reefs are being killed off to such an extent that the question is not whether things will get worse but whether we will lose them entirely.



In just a few decades, the Caribbean’s reefs have collapsed. Golden beds of elkhorns and staghorns have disappeared and been replaced by thick mats of green algae. The proportion of the reef covered by live coral has plummeted from 50% in the 1970s to just 8% now, changing the fish communities dramatically. “Florida was a scary place to snorkel then, with hammerhead sharks, groupers and sailfish,” says Bruno. “Now, it’s like snorkelling in an aquarium.”



It’s not just the Caribbean. A third of reef-building corals are in danger of extinction, and reefs the world over are in serious decline. Even Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, long held as a shining testament to careful management, has lost the majority of its coral. “Ten years ago, we thought, ‘At least we have the [Great Barrier Reef]’, but even that’s starting to look pretty grim,” says Bruno. The question now is not whether things will get worse – they assuredly will – but whether we will lose our reefs entirely.

Full article with pictures



The pictures are sad to look at. Would be an awful shame to lose our coral reefs forever. With climate change, I truly don't see a way to save these coral reefs - Do you?

 

[DrLeftover]

Yeah, we should do everything we can to make sure something like this doesn't happen to our reefs....

El Capitan, Capitan Reef, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas. This is a coral reef is from the Permian.



http://www.nps.gov/gumo/index.htm