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Acid oceans warning
Date:10/17/2007

When CO2 levels in the atmosphere reach about 500 parts per million, you put calcification out of business in the oceans. (Atmospheric CO2 levels are presently 385 ppm, up from 305 in 1960.)

It isnt just the coral reefs which are affected a large part of the plankton in the Southern Ocean, the coccolithophorids, are also affected. These drive ocean productivity and are the base of the food web which supports krill, whales, tuna and our fisheries. They also play a vital role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which could break down.

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said an experiment at Heron Island, in which CO2 levels were increased in the air of tanks containing corals, had showed it caused some corals to cease forming skeletons. More alarmingly, red calcareous algae the glue that holds the edges of coral reefs together in turbulent water actually began to dissolve. The risk is that this may begin to erode the Barrier of the Great Barrier Reef at a grand scale, he says.

As an issue its a bit of a sleeper. Global warming is incredibly serious, but ocean acidification could be even more so.

Other issues at the forum include:

  • the latest science on coral bleaching

  • the rising plague of coral disease

  • managing Australias coral reefs under climate change

  • managing resilience in coral reefs

  • protecting sea water quality from activities on land

  • are green zones helping to replenish fish stocks on the GBR?

  • the plight of reef sharks and other top predators.

The forum will feature a public discussion hosted by ABC Science Show host Dr Robyn Williams on the future of Australias coral reefs, at 6 PM on Thursday, October 18, at the Shine Dome, Canberra.


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Contact: Malcolm McCulloch
61-261-259-969
ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies
Source:Eurekalert

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