NEWS: Newly Discovered Tasmanian Coral Reef May Prove Global Warming, page 1


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ATS Members have flagged this thread 7 times
Topic started on 16-7-2005 @ 11:07 PM by Mayet
Biologists from Tasmania's Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute have discovered a shallow coral covered reef off Tasmania. The reef which is the size of a large city suburb, is situated off the north east coast of Tasmania near Flinders Island and could prove that global warming has changed and altered Tasmanias marine environment. The scientists believe that rising water temperatures are having an impact on the normally cold water in the region allowing coral, usually only found in more tropical waters, to form reefs.



www.abc.net.au
"It's exceptionally rare to find very extensive, pretty much 100 per cent cover areas of it south of Sydney, so it's something completely unexpected."

The CSIRO has noticed other changes, including the invasion of about 30 species of fish from warmer areas to Tasmanian waters.

CSIRO senior scientist Ron Thresher says local marine species are also moving further south.

There is also speculation the changes have contributed to the decline of Tasmania's kelp forests over the past few decades.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


It is most unusual to find reefs of this large size in the area around tasmania. The water currents in the area are closest to the antarctic and penguins and seals can be found along Tasmanian beaches. It will be interesting to see what further findings these scientist discover from studying this and other reefs in the area.

Australia's great barrier reef meanwhile is shrinking, down 20 percent from a period of 20 years ago and there is talk of creating more and more artifical reefs to sustain marine life in the area.

[edit on 16-7-2005 by Mayet]


reply posted on 17-7-2005 @ 01:10 AM by Mayet
The most significant threat to the future of the Great Barrier Reef and of the planet's other tropical reef ecosystems is global warming. Many of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef are currently living at the upper edge of their temperature tolerance, as demonstrated in the coral bleaching events of the summers of 1998 and 2002. Under the stress of waters that remain too warm for too long, corals expel their photosynthesizing zooxanthellae and turn colourless, revealing their white skeletons, and if the water does not cool within about a month the coral dies. In ecology, an ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit of sorts. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856-2004 Global warming is a term used to describe an increase over time of the average temperature of Earths atmosphere and oceans. ... Coral bleaching results when the symbiotic zooxanthellae (single celled algae) are expelled from the host coral organism due to stress. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zooxanthellae are golden-brown endosymbionts of various marine animals and protozoa. ...

Global warming has triggered the collapse of reef ecosystems throughout the tropics. Increased global temperatures bring more violent tropical storms, but reef systems are naturally resilient and recover from storm battering. With an upward trend in temperature apparently continuing, much more coral bleaching is expected to occur in the coming decades.

www.newscientist.com...
Tropical Reefs and Glabal Warming (rapid Increase of temp on timeline)

Rising levels of greenhouse gases may not be quite as bad for coral reefs as was previously thought. A team of Australian scientists say that the damage done by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the oceans will be offset by warmer waters, which will make coral grow faster. But other researchers counter that warming will do more harm than good.

Other researchers argue that McNeil’s team did not consider coral bleaching, which occurs when warmer waters cause corals to expel the symbiotic algae that live in them. They say bleaching may undo the beneficial effects of higher temperature.


www.newscientist.com...

How would you explain the rise of water temperature. I find personally that global warming explains the increase of water temperature wquite well.


reply posted on 17-7-2005 @ 06:28 PM by Hamburglar
Not to nit-pick, Mayet, but you wrote:

covered reef off Tasmania. The reef which is the size of a large city suburb




However, some quick googling turned this up...

How long does it take for coral to grow? Corals grow at different rates, depending on water temperature, salinity, turbulence, and the availability of food. The massive corals are the slowest growing species, adding between 5 and 25 millimeters (.2 inches to an 1 inch) per year to their length. Branching and Staghorn corals can grow much faster, adding as much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) to their branches each year.


Source: Coral Reef Alliance

Assuming they know more than you about coral, and further assuming that what you call

a large city suburb
is actually a very tiny city suburb and is only ONE SQUARE MILE, which equals 63,600 inches across and 63,600 in length, THAT CORAL IS SUPER CORAL.

Instead of regular coral that would take between 7,000 and 63,000 YEARS to grow that big, you would have us believe that it has just appeared in the time that man has been "speeding global warming" (say the last 100 to 200 years or so)? Is that REALLY your argument?

Weak, dude. Really weak.



reply posted on 18-7-2005 @ 09:07 PM by Mayet
No Indy, I was speaking about Hambuglar then when i spoke of the "weak Dude" comment.
and I agree about the weather channel but I have a 100% accurate weather forecaster in my own home. I am mother to six children. One child has blue eyes, my baby who is twelve months old and the other five have dark eyes. I myself have brown eyes, my husband, who is part spanish has almost black eyes. His parents are brown eye and grey/green eyes and my parents are brown and hazel.

Anyhows my baby, Kahleah Celeste, eyes are a aqua blue/green colour centre going out to dark blue blue, which is the standard colour most days. To a steely /grey/blue and shiny on days when it is going to rain. Its sort of like when you look at a river of water or the sea, on a clear day, its a lighter blue green and on a cloudy day it reflects the dark blue grey skies.

Some days surprise me, in the morning it is fine and sunny and no clouds, yet Kahleahs eyes go steely and sure enough, within a couple of hours it clouds over and rains. Her eyes are spot on everytime and now people around me are starting to sit up when i say its going to rain. Even the markings in the colored bit change, when its going to rain the circle bits get rounder and more prominent and when its not they are narrow and elongated. I spend a lot of time looking into my babies eyes and people here agree its spot on and so unusual.

it is more so unusual for me because i am used to looking into Brown eyes with my other kids, sometimes I wonder how the heck she got lighter coloured eyes to start with...the wonders of genetics.....

Does anyone else have eyes that change with the weather? I have heard of joints swelling and aches starting, or even sneezing but never eyes.

what's surprising to me with Kahleahs is that they are changed before the skies start to show any promise or hint of change.


[edit on 18-7-2005 by Mayet]

[edit on 18-7-2005 by Mayet]


reply posted on 29-7-2005 @ 12:00 PM by Hamburglar

I am a writer, not a scientist. The poster has every reason to question the story but to attack the poster?


Sorry, Mrs. Mayet, but I'm not going to let you attempt to malign me as if I were attacking you. I was quite clear when I said

Is that REALLY your argument?


My problem is not with you, but with YOUR argument. And, while you can hide behind your original sources all you want...

I am reporting the story without bias from information given to me by a reputable news source


You can't deny that you also made an argument when you said the following:

I put it down largely to the rape of the sea by humans and pro fishers but when added with the declining reef and weird water currents it does point to something larger and something global occuring.

and

I find personally that global warming explains the increase of water temperature wquite well.

While you could certainly try to contend that you were only arguing specific, quasi-related points, I think we both recognize that the crux of these statements was to tie global warming and human intervention to these magical coral reefs.

Therefore, I was perfectly sound in taking your argument to task, and further I would be equally sound in asking you to take a few moments to double check some well published information suggesting that human intervention and global warming couldn't possibly be involved with the growth of these reefs (unless you think we've been aiding global warming for thousands of years now, and I'm not about to get into that argument with you).

So, sorry if you thought I had a problem with you, but please, recognize that I was doing exactly what you claimed you wanted

I am passing on to members here to debate.

See Hamburglar debate. Debate, Ham. Debate.
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