[Coral-List] Question Thermal vs pH shift

[James Cervino PhD.]

Thanks Ken for making that clear. The only reason I bring this up was due to
seeing a lack of recovery due to thermal stress and from what I observe, corals
are not recovering. However, many think I am taking a "gloom and doom" approach.
However, I do have hope, only if immediate action takes place leading to the
drastic reduction of the heat-trappers.

Will the recent results of the Bali meeting address this drastic reduction to
save the corals from heat-stroke and sudden pH shifts? I guess the
responsibility to devise a CO2 reduction percentage lies in the hands of the
policy makers based on the scientific intelligence reports getting to the
average policy maker hands. Good intel vs bad intel? Full disclosure! Who makes
and advises such cuts?

Are the advisors coral reef ecologists? Marine Geologists? Coral
Biochemists/Physiologists? Who determens what corals can take or cant take
based on the CO2 reduction percentage ?

PS: at least in this case we do know that WMD against corals exsists and where
they are coming from !




*************************************
Dr. James M. Cervino
Pace University & Visiting Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.
Department of Marine Chemistry
Woods Hole MA.
Cell: 917-620*5287
************************************


Quoting Ken Caldeira <kcaldeira at stanford.edu>:

* In response to James Cervino:
*
* James,
*
* I was not trying to say that existing coral reefs are likely to survive
* significant warming. My point was more of the flavor of: if the heat doesn't
* get them, the acidity will.
*
* If half the coral species survived the K/T boundary, then many of the
* species are likely to survive anything we throw at them. If warming were the
* only thing to worry about, there is at least a possibility of repopulating
* colder climes, even though the timescale for such migration might be a long
* one (so operationally for us, it might as well be infinite).
*
* It appears that for two million years after the K/T boundary, coral reefs
* were non-existent or rare. If we think bad chemical conditions only lasted a
* few tens of kyr after the K/T boundary but it takes nearly 2000 kyr for them
* to show up again in the geologic record, the timescale of this migration
* could be long indeed.
*
* Coral reefs were around in past warm times in Earth history, but I do not
* think they survived periods of low aragonite saturation.
*
* Best,
*
* Ken
*
* On Jan 13, 2008 8:43 AM, shashank Keshavmurthy <iamshanky15 at yahoo.com>
* wrote:
*
* > Ok....so the discussion on the Thermal vs pH shift has begun....i thought
* > i will give some information
* > This is an example of how atmospheric CO2 build-up might effect coral
* > health.......
* >
* > I hope people who are in this discussion are aware of a paper, "Pink-Line
* > syndrome, a physiological crisis in the scleractinian coral Porites lutes"
* > Ravindran and Raghukumar, Marine Biology (2005)...I am sorry about the
* issue
* > and volume, i just have in press version...
* >
* > Ok...so that was classical work done by Ravindran...I was there when he
* > was painfully performing the experiment in Laccadives (Kavaratti Atoll) and
* > waiting patiently for the result.  Finally he did it....
* >
* > He showed that......CO2 build-up around the host tissue cause the pink
* > coloration in the coral tissue....this happened when he treated coral with
* > the cyanobacteria and abiotic stress (CO2).  Such kind of physiological
* > changes can disturb the coral holobiont symbiosis, and host loses control
* > over the zooxanthellae, causing uncontrolled division.....now this effect
* of
* > CO2 was due to that produced by the cyanobacteria....
* >
* > Just imagine....if the atmospheric CO2 levels increase....how many more
* > Pink-line syndrome like infections will surface up?.....
* >
* > Just a thought from my side
* >
* > Shashank
* >
* >
* > "Role of Infinitely Small in Nature is Infinitely Large" - Louis Pasteur
* > ====================================
* > Keshavmurthy Shashank
* > Research Student, Graduate School of Kuroshio Science
* > Laboratory of Environmental Conservation
* > Kochi University, Monobe Campus, B 200
* > Nankoku, Kochi, 783-8502, Japan
* > Mobile: 81 08039253889
* > My WebPage: http://web.mac.com/coralresearch/iWeb/shashank/Welcome.html
* >
* >
* > ------------------------------
* > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it
* >
*
now.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ>
* >
*
*
*
* --
* ===============================
* Ken Caldeira
* Department of Global Ecology
* Carnegie Institution
* 260 Panama Street
* Stanford, CA 94305 USA
* +1 650 704 7212; fax: +1 650 462 5968
*
* kcaldeira at stanford.edu
*
* http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/home/main%20page/caldeira.php
*

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