[Coral-List] What do coral reef scientists perceive are the major threats to Caribbean coral reefs?

Steve Mussman sealab at earthlink.net
Thu Apr 17 04:27:32 EDT 2014


   Hi Ellen,


   Based on the lists posted by Sarah Young I believe hurricanes should have
   been included. Someone playfully suggested that I listed disease twice for
   emphasis, but it was just a dumb mistake. Your suggestions could certainly
   be added as well. I'm even more interested in how any such list would be
   prioritized by this community. I imagine that finding consensus on how the
   top dozen threats should be listed in order of significance would be the
   greater  challenge.  Some  of the threats seem to overlap and regional
   differences come into play, but I would venture to guess that while all
   these issues are ominous and dispiriting, ocean warming and acidification
   would be consistently rated on or near the top.


   Regards,

   Steve


     -----Original Message-----
     From: Ellen McRae
     Sent: Apr 16, 2014 10:03 PM
     To: Steve Mussman , coral-list
     Subject: Re: [Coral-List] What do coral reef scientists perceive are the
     major threats to Caribbean coral reefs?
     Hello Steve and all
     Nrs 2 and 7 are Disease in your list. Could one of them be replaced with
     Pollution (land and sea-based); also add UV/atmospheric degradation?
     Best wishes,
     Ellen McRae
     FAMRACC
     Belize
     On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 7:52 AM, Steve Mussman wrote:
     >
     > While it is certainly a challenge to clearly portray the synergy of
     > impacts
     > that multiple stressors have on coral reefs without confusing people
     > into
     > inertia, the issue is being greatly distorted by a deliberate campaign
     > designed to continue the debate based on promoting the false proposition
     > that there is a substantial level of scientific disunity. I donât
     > really see
     > that beyond the fringes and would argue that a clear consensus exists.
     > The
     > eleven threats listed below seem to provide obvious support for Alina's
     > case
     > for primacy of human causation. So while people may be the solution,
     > they
     > can't possibly provide a satisfactory resolution without first
     > recognizing
     > and accepting their role as primary drivers of the problem at hand.
     >
     >
     >
     > 1.Ocean warming 2.Disease 3.Ocean acidification 4.Overfishing
     > 5.Sedimentation 6.Coral bleaching 7.Disease 8.Coastal development
     > 9.Human
     > population growth 10.Algal competition 11.Laws and enforcement.
     >
     >
     >
     > Regards,
     >
     > Steve
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     >


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