Monday, October 1, 2007

Endangered coral becomes climate warning system

Reuters: The future is looking grim for coral reefs, home to bright tropical fish and a lure for tourists worldwide but also an early warning system for climate shift, leading coral scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg says. Warming seas and increased ocean acidity will devastate more than 90 percent of the world's corals over the coming century unless urgent action is taken, Hoegh-Guldberg told Reuters. "You'll get tougher corals surviving, but most of them are not tough enough to survive the sorts of temperatures we're going to throw at them over the next 100 years," Hoegh-Guldberg said...

"Essentially, the climate change is faster than the coral population can respond," he said. "So what you'll see is the coral population dropping to about five percent of what it is today." For summit blog: http://summitnotebook.reuters.com/

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