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<p>Nerilie Abram wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE> We fully agree that temperature rise and CO<sub><font size=-2>2</font></sub>
rise are serious and potentially devastating threats to the future of coral
reefs, however we firmly believe that sea level rise is not a threat to
coral reefs. Geological evidence in fact suggests quite the opposite, and
under the currently projected rates of future sea level rise coral reefs
around the world should easily be able to keep pace with sea level rise
and would most likely flourish in the new “accommodation space” provided
for reef growth. An example can be observed on Heron Island, where the
construction of a weir resulted in an artificial and immediate sea level
rise on the order of metres and has been accompanied by a marked increase
in coral reef growth. Of course, given the stresses on reefs by other factors
their ability to respond to rising sea level may not be as great as that</blockquote>
I ask purely out of ignorance. Was the Heron Island coral coral diversity
behind the weir the same as it was before? I can deforests and plow
a field and let it go back to nature - but first there will be a lot of
weeds and it make take a long time before the balance is what it used to
be. The diversity of corals is in some ways related to the much higher
degree of diversity of organisms that live amongst them. Less than a 1000
coral species support almost a million species of scientifically named
and as yet unnamed species.
<p>Can one track such fine detail as species change in the geological record?
A few corals take centuries to reach their full size and form.
<p>don
<br>Don McAllister
<br>Ocean Voice International
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