The Great Barrier Reed has suffered its worst coral dieoff on record as the new year apporaches. This can be largely attributed to raising in global and sea temperatures. The Northern Part of the reef suffered the most damage as roghly 67 percent of the shallow water corals in that region have died off in the last eight months, roughly a 700 kilometer stretch. This was examined by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Researches claim that nearly all of the coral in some reefs in the Northern Region have died. The central and southern part of the reef has faired better than the Northern part as the center has lost six percent and the southern section has lost one percent since 2016.
Some of the researches attribute this to El Nino events. While this may (or may not), there is an undeniable fact that our oceans are warming and causing coral to be bleached as a result of human output. Research says corals can rebound if water temperatures cool down but as our rate of green house gas emissions, this does not seem plausible. Coral reefs are a primary area that endures direct effect of global warming as they rely so much on the temperature and chemical makeup of the water. It is unfortunate that such a prestine and beautiful area is being layed to waste as a result of human emissions. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38641-great-barrier-reef-suffered-worst-coral-die-off-on-record-in-2016-new-study
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Alex Garcia-Environmentalist Archives
December 2016
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