[Coral-List] Coral mortality in a warmer and acidified ocean
Douglas Fenner
douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
Mon Jan 30 11:47:00 EST 2017
I would suggest that there is a difference between the genus Acropora
surviving, and "uninhibited by changes in temperature or
seawater chemistry, including seawater pH/ocean acidification conditions
that are predicted to occur over the course of the next century and beyond."
When there are millions of colonies, as there are for most coral
species, huge numbers of colonies can be killed and the species can
survive. Even so with the largest genus of corals, Acropora, which has
over 165 species known, and which is often so abundant that it dominates
many reefs. Things that can devastate coral reef ecosystems will not
necessarily drive species and even less likely genera to extinction, and
even less likely the world's largest and most abundant genus. I submit
that destroying coral reef ecosystems is something worth avoiding even if
the world's largest coral genus survives. Loss of coral reef ecosystems is
a pretty high price to pay.
Cheers, Doug
On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 11:36 AM, Risk, Michael <riskmj at mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> Well, Doug, the Devil can quote scripture. At least, that is what he tells
> me.
>
> The paper says substantially what Gene reported. From the Abstract:
>
> “...has not only survived these environmental changes, but has maintained
> its distinct skeletal biomineralization pattern for at least 40 My.”
>
> Mike
>
> On Jan 30, 2017, at 11:20 AM, Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Well, all of the wording in Gene's message other than the article
> reference was from the "CO2 Science" website, except where it quotes the
> article. The "CO2 Science" website is a denier propaganda website, put out
> by Idso, Idso, and Idso. The first Idso is "An outspoken global warming
> denier <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_denier> known for
> claiming that rising CO2 levels will have mainly positive environmental
> effects" (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_D._Idso).
> The last half of the last paragraph in Gene's message is likely not
> supported by the article at all.
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
> On Sat, Jan 28, 2017 at 11:18 AM, Nicole Crane <nicrane at cabrillo.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> I will plead ignorance as I have not read the paper…but as scientists of
>> living systems - interacting with their non-living systems know, it is as
>> much about the speed and nature of change in the non-living systems as the
>> change itself that controls biological system response. Documenting
>> historical change is not enough empirical evidence. There is a nuance to
>> the nature of that change that needs to be captured too. Again, maybe it
>> was captured in the paper I don’t know. But the synopsis below is far too
>> simplified.
>>
>> Nicole
>>
>> > On Jan 27, 2017, at 7:45 AM, Risk, Michael <riskmj at mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>> >
>> > Fascinating, Gene.
>> >
>> > I await feedback from the rest of the 8,000-odd on the -list, those who
>> are still able to respond after the recent political changes in your county.
>> >
>> > The implication, or the inevitable conclusion, is that the recent
>> decline in Acropora has been caused by local stresses, not global change..
>> This is something many in the reef community find hard to accept.
>> >
>> > Mike
>> > ________________________________________
>> > From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> [coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov] on behalf of Eugene Shinn [
>> eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu]
>> > Sent: January 25, 2017 12:43 PM
>> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> > Subject: [Coral-List] Coral mortality in a warmer and acidified ocean
>> >
>> > *In addition to the paper reviewed in the previous Coral-list here is A
>> > review published in the blog Co2 Science Gene
>> > *
>> >
>> > *Paper Reviewed*
>> > Stolarski, J., Bosellini, F.R., Wallace, C.C., Gothmann, A.M., Mazur,
>> > M., Domart-Coulon, I., Gutner-Hoch, E., Neuser, R.D., Levy, O., Shemesh,
>> > A. and Meibom, A. 2016. A unique coral biomineralization pattern has
>> > resisted 40 million years of major ocean chemistry change. /Scientific
>> > Reports/ *6*: 27579, DOI: 10.1038/srep27579.
>> >
>> > Publishing their work in the journal /Scientific Reports/, the team of
>> > eleven international researchers compared the skeletal structures of
>> > living /Acropora/ corals with those of well-preserved fossil /Acropora/
>> > skeletons from the Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene, noting that these
>> > latter organisms "have experienced major fluctuations in atmospheric CO2
>> > levels (from greenhouse conditions of high pCO2 in the Eocene to low
>> > pCO2 ice-house conditions in the Oligocene-Miocene) and a dramatically
>> > changing ocean Mg/Ca ratio." By doing so, it could therefore be
>> > empirically determined whether or not higher levels of CO2 (i.e., ocean
>> > acidification) truly are a detriment to corals, interfering with the
>> > process of calcification and disrupting or weakening skeletal structure.
>> >
>> > So is that what they found? Were these major reef building corals harmed
>> > by ocean acidification and temperature changes of conditions past?
>> >
>> > In a word, /no/. In stark contrast, in fact, Stolarski /et al/. report
>> > that "the most diverse, widespread, and abundant reef-building coral
>> > genus /Acropora/ (20 morphological groups and 150 living species) has
>> > not only survived these environmental changes, but has maintained its
>> > distinct skeletal biomineralization pattern for at least 40 My." Such
>> > "remarkable evolutionary stability," they continue, "exists despite
>> > major global geochemical fluctuations, from greenhouse (high pCO2)
>> > conditions and low seawater Mg/Ca (calcitic seas) in the Eocene to
>> > icehouse (low pCO2) conditions and rapidly increasing Mg/Ca (aragonite
>> > seas) during the Oligocene-Miocene."
>> >
>> > The take home message of the Stolarski /et al/. paper is that the
>> > skeletal formation process of /Acropora/ is, as they state, "strongly
>> > biologically controlled," uninhibited by changes in temperature or
>> > seawater chemistry, including seawater pH/ocean acidification conditions
>> > that are predicted to occur over the course of the next century and
>> beyond.
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> >
>> > No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
>> > ------------------------------------ ------------------------------
>> -----
>> > E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
>> > University of South Florida
>> > College of Marine Science Room 221A
>> > 140 Seventh Avenue South
>> > St. Petersburg, FL 33701
>> > <eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
>> > Tel 727 553-1158
>> > ---------------------------------- -----------------------------------
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
> "have regulator, will travel"
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799 USA
>
> phone 1 684 622-7084 <(684)%20622-7084>
>
> Join the International Society for Reef Studies. Membership includes a
> subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
> subscriptions and developing countries. Coral Reefs is the only journal
> that is ALL coral reef articles, and it has amazingly LOW prices compared
> to other journals. Check it out! www.fit.edu/isrs/
>
> "Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim Beever..
> "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts."-
> Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
>
> Last year was- again- the hottest year on record.
> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/last-year-was-again-hottest-record
>
> 99 Reasons 2016 was a good year. https://medium.com/future-
> crunch/99-reasons-why-2016-has-been-a-great-year-for-
> humanity-8420debc2823#.9iznf7pfk Check items 42-59.
>
> 43. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow
> at all in 2016, for the third year in a row. Scientific American
> <http://futurecrunch.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6321feeb3ffd42b0e44a01616&id=18ef49d1e6&e=20926c12c5>
>
> 44. renewables now account for more newly installed capacity than any
> other form of electricity in the world, including coal.. Gizmodo
> <http://gizmodo.com/renewables-now-exceed-all-other-forms-of-new-power-gene-1788195297>
>
>
> Risk, Michael
> riskmj at mcmaster.ca
>
>
>
>
--
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
"have regulator, will travel"
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799 USA
phone 1 684 622-7084
Join the International Society for Reef Studies. Membership includes a
subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
subscriptions and developing countries. Coral Reefs is the only journal
that is ALL coral reef articles, and it has amazingly LOW prices compared
to other journals. Check it out! www.fit.edu/isrs/
"Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim Beever.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts."-
Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Last year was- again- the hottest year on record.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/last-year-was-again-hottest-record
99 Reasons 2016 was a good year.
https://medium.com/future-crunch/99-reasons-why-2016-has-been-a-great-year-for-humanity-8420debc2823#.9iznf7pfk
Check items 42-59.
43. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow
at all in 2016, for the third year in a row. Scientific American
<http://futurecrunch.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6321feeb3ffd42b0e44a01616&id=18ef49d1e6&e=20926c12c5>
44. renewables now account for more newly installed capacity than any other
form of electricity in the world, including coal.. Gizmodo
<http://gizmodo.com/renewables-now-exceed-all-other-forms-of-new-power-gene-1788195297>
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