[Coral-List] Could foreign coral save dying reefs?
Steve Mussman
sealab at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 16 12:40:59 UTC 2024
Hi Doug,
Can foreign corals save a dying reef?
I would suggest that the simple answer to that question is an emphatic “NO”.
One of the scientists in the Nature article is quoted as lamenting “How far do you go? When do we just give up?” she says. “I don’t know.”
All this angst leads me to pose a responsive question.
When will the coral sciences stop focusing on trying to find or develop corals that can survive in increasingly adverse conditions and finally realize that the only real solution is to address causation?
Stop wringing your hands and focus on what we all know are the central issues at play; water quality, over-fishing and climate change.
Such an approach might not create as many exciting opportunities to experiment with the manipulation the natural world, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that it is the last best chance we have to save it.
Regards,
Steve Mussman
Sent from EarthLink Mobile mail
On 1/15/24, 8:16 PM, Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
"Scientists are considering a desperate attempt to use non-native coral to
restore long-struggling reefs in the Caribbean that were devastated by last
year’s heatwave. It’s a controversial proposal
that
comes after efforts to rescue reefs with native corals have failed. Certain
Indo-Pacific coral species easily colonize reefs, and might be able to
survive pollution, heat extremes and diseases. But they could also disturb
the local ecology in unpredictable ways. “It’s an 11th-hour solution,” says
coral geneticist Mikhail Matz, who presented the idea at a conference. “And
it is now 11:45.”" Nature Briefing
Radical idea sparks debate
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00102-y
open-access
Cheers, Doug
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Coral Reef Consulting
PO Box 997390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298 USA
Costanza, R. 2023. To build a better world, stop chasing economic growth.
Nature 624: 519-521. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-04029-8
Fossil fuel air pollution kills 5 million people world-wide per year
https://www.yahoo.com/news/research-shows-disturbing-between-millions-200000257.html
World's richest 1% emit as much as 5 billion people
https://makerichpolluterspay.org/climate-equality-report/
Huge expansion of fossil fuels planned, will be very destructive
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrostates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report
"without policy changes, the world will heat up enough by the end of the
century that more than 2 billion people will live in life-threatening hot
climates" Will you be in that area???
https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-sounding-alarm-dangerous-problem-123000792.html
World subsidies for fossil fuels reached an all-time high of over $1
TRILLION in 2022, the last year for which data is available. The subsidies
MUST end.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/fossil-fuel-subsidies-must-end/
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