Another threat to our planet’s reefs
April 14th, 2007 by Eric
In the category of “bad news” we found this at MSNBC.com:
A strong earthquake that struck Indonesia’s Sumatra Island two years ago caused one of the biggest coral die-offs ever documented, a study by scientists from two conservation groups found.
The cause of the die-off was the raising of the ocean floor by more than four feet, lifting much of the reef out of the water where, well, it dies.
But it is not, as Donald Rumsfeld says, all “Henny Penny—“The sky is falling.” There are two bits of good news to come out of this “mass mortality.” First, this once-in-a-century occurrence gives scientists the ability to study the recovery process from a source other than fossil reefs. Second, the reef in many places seems to be recovering. According to Stuart Campbell of the Wildlife Conservation Society:
At many sites, the worst affected species are beginning to decolonize the shallow reef areas. The reefs appear to be returning to what they looked like before the earthquake, although the process may take many years.
While this die-off is clearly not related to human activity and out of our control, it does emphasize the need to take action with regard to that which we can control. Check out our Wednesday topic on coral reefs to learn about the problems these inappropriately named underwater floral gardens (they’re actually animals) face and how you can help contribute to the solution. Because sometimes we have to overcome nature to make real progress.
Photo courtesy of this traveler
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