[Coral-List] faint hope on coral range expansion with global warming

[Michael Risk]

Thanks for that reminder, Bill.

Global warming will bring with it not only increased sea surface
temperatures but also a rise in sea level.  The corals will be
attempting to colonize a newly-inundated continental shelf during a
transgression: very similar to what happened during the early Holocene.

Walter Adey showed, more than 30 years ago,the length of time this
takes: >1000 years. Of course, that was during the early Holocene, when
the water was a lot cleaner.

I don't see a lot of hope here. At least, not in my lifetime.

Mike

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:28:05 -0500
 "Precht, William F" <PrechtW at BATTELLE.ORG> wrote:
> Dear List:
> 
> The geological record clearly records range shifts (both expansions
> and contractions) of both corals and reefs in both time and space
> related to changing climate (SSTs).  
> 
> In 2004, Rich Aronson and I published the story of the on-going coral
> creep in the western Atlantic.  Interestingly enough, this story has
> an early-to-mid-Holocene analogue.  These shifts are highly
> ephemeral.  The facts are that coral and reefs will expand their
> ranges in the future related to global climate change but
> unfortunately these localized phenomena will not offset losses to
> coral and reefs related to bleaching and pandemic diseases throughout
> their range.  
> 
> If anyone would like a copy of this manuscript - please let me know
> and I will send it along.
> 
> Precht, W.F., and Aronson, R.B.,(2004) Climate flickers and range
> shifts of reef corals. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
> 6(2):307-313.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bill Precht
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Allen
> Chen
> Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 6:17 PM
> To: Ben Greenstein
> Cc: coral-list coral-list
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] coral range expansion with global warming
> 
> Many thanks to Ben and John for posting their recent publication in  
> the coral range expansion with global warming. It is very interesting
>  
> in reading Shashank's description in Kochi's study. It will be great
>  
> if there are more information posted in the coral-list.
> 
> Cheers, Allen
> 
> 在 2008/1/15 上午 1:15 時，Ben Greenstein 寫到：
> 
> > In response to today's query/discussion about coral range
> expansion,
> > my colleague John Pandolfi (U. Queensland) and I just published a
> > study documenting range expansions and contractions of coral taxa
> > associated with climate change.
> >
> > The reference is:
> > Greenstein, B. J. and Pandolfi, J. M., 2008, Escaping the heat:
> range
> > shifts of reef coral taxa in coastal Western Australia. Global
> Change
> > Biology 14: 1-16. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01506.
> >
> > Ben Greenstein
> >
> >
> > **********************************
> > Benjamin J. Greenstein Ph.D.
> > Professor and Chair
> > Department of Geology
> > Cornell College
> > 600 First St. SW
> > Mt. Vernon, IA 52314
> > USA
> >
> > PH: 319-895-4307
> > FAX: 319-895-5667
> > WEB: http://www.cornellcollege.edu/geology/greenstein
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> 
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Mike Risk
Marine Ecologist
PO Box 1195
Durham Ontario
N0G 1R0