[Coral-List] Follow the Money -> Re: corals will survive alkalinity shift
Douglas Fenner
douglasfenner at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 4 21:16:57 EDT 2012
The newly discovered mechanism didn't do much good for the corals in the Fine study where their skeletons completely dissolved but the polyps survived, or the corals in New Guinea near volcanic vents that release CO2 bubbles underwater which change the pH (Fabricius et al.). But will be interesting to read this new article.
Cheers, Doug
Fabricius,
K.E.; Langdon, C.; Uthicke, S.; Humphrey, C.; Noonan, S.; De’ath, G.; Okazaki,
R.; Muehllehner, N.; Glas, M.; Lough, J.M. Losers and winners in coral reefs
acclimatized to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations. Nature Climate
Change 2011.
Fine, M., Tchernov, D. 2007. Scleractinian coral species
survive and recover from decalcification. Science 315: 1811.
________________________________
From: Ian Zink <izink at rsmas.miami.edu>
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 6:35 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Follow the Money -> Re: corals will survive alkalinity shift
Eugene,
Thank you for passing on this interesting article.
A quick look at the editorial board etc. on the ENN website states
Lincoln Atkin Norton is the Chairman of the Board for ENN:
http://www.enn.com/static/enn_staff
Lincoln Atkin Norton is "..currently...the owner and CEO of /The
Environmental News Network <http://www.enn.com/>/" reported in this
article to be "one of the most respected environmental news sources on
the web." He also "...is an entrepreneur in corporate America and a
vocal proponent..."
http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=4929
He also seems to have some ties to big business (which generally follow
the line of "business as usual"):
"Lincoln Norton has started a number of businesses as an entrepreneur in
the fields of executive education, real estate development, computer
software and the Internet. He is currently the Founder and Chairman of
The Corporate University, Inc. a membership organization that evaluates
the best of the best of development activities for managers and
executives in large companies around the world. Its 260 corporate
members include companies like Boeing, Chevron, Ford, SBC, Sprint and
Walt Disney."
http://www.hartleyfarms.com/hfpages/biolnorton.htm
Furthermore, it seems that the article takes comments and conclusions
from the authors out of context (I only quickly read the abstract, and
see obvious spin differences):
www..nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1473.html
It is great that we have noted that a mechanism which allows corals to
continue to calcify under more acidic conditions. What does this mean
for bioenergetics of a living coral colony which must (most likely I
would assume) allocate more energy towards calcification rather than
other functions, such as reproductive growth? Even if the living tissue
of a coral can calcify under more acidic conditions, what will happen to
a living colonies' base if acidic waters are able to dissolve it? Does
this new mechanism mean living corals will be able to handle this threat
and stressor along with continued increases in human population, sewage
outfall (bacterial/viral diseases), increases coastal eutrophication,
increased fisheries pressure and modification of reef
ecosystems/communities?
Though the article does highlight some issues with the "allegedly
raising the planet's natural temperature, carbon dioxide is turning the
world's oceans more acidic" problem, it seems the intent of the article
is to propagandize away these concerns.
Follow the money.
<)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))><
Ian C. Zink
Research Associate
Cooperative Institute for Marine& Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)
U. of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, FL 33149
office: 305-421-4146
cell: 603-498-3988
email: izink at rsmas.miami.edu
On 4/4/2012 10:07 AM, Eugene Shinn wrote:
> Nature Climate Change
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