[Coral-List] Endangered species status will be considered for 82 corals

Jeremy Woodley jdwoodley at yahoo.co.uk
Sat Feb 20 14:04:20 EST 2010


Dear Gene,

I’d be grateful if you could explain (to a relative ignoramus) how it could be that very high levels of atmospheric CO2 in the Cretaceous did not so reduce ocean pH as to impair coral calcification, which is a concern today? Were the oceans better buffered? Or must we assume that, given time, organisms adapted? 

Eugene Shinn wrote:
......................................................  Just look to the geologic record. The
> grandest reefs the world has ever known grew during the Cretaceous
> when Co2 levels were more than 7 times present levels.

Jeremy Woodley

Retired from the Centre for Marine Sciences, University of the West Indies, Jamaica.




      


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