[Coral-List] GBR bleachinig, coral larvae in hot water, plastic & coral disease

[Douglas Fenner]

The first article I referred to, in the Washington Post ("Great Barrier
Reef suffers its most widespread mass bleaching event on record"), has the
type of comment I have seen so often:

"Severely bleached corals turn bone white, and if their algal partners stay
away for too long, they can starve to death."

That may well happen sometimes, but if the water gets too hot, it can kill
them very quickly, way too quick for it to be due to starvation.  But this
keeps coming up in the press accounts.

OK, here's another press account of the GBR bleaching:

Great Barrier Reef is bleaching again.  It is getting more widespread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/australia/great-barrier-reefs-bleaching-dying.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20200407&instance_id=17439&nl=science-times&regi_id=74018794&segment_id=24153&te=1&user_id=a61bfa602a1dd7b19a21dad22e11decb


Note that the lead photo shows long-dead coral, not bleached coral (which
would be alive).  Could well have been killed by bleaching sometime in the
past.

Cheers, Doug

On Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 11:03 AM Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Great Barrier Reef suffers its most widespread mass bleaching event on
> record
>
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/04/06/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching/?fbclid=IwAR0GCpjAaEuQOv-NbYDKlED1q4x53qW77_lDDicaUphIVTbUFd3DiMoNCIE
>
> Rescuing the Great Barrier Reef: how much can be saved, and how can we do
> it?
>
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/05/rescuing-the-great-barrier-reef-how-much-can-be-saved-and-how-can-we-do-it?fbclid=IwAR0aEy1UZTIslcC1sdJp64JS0vdN9r-6MDwLuewFaAjXXntp2tlcLO-ZUc0
>
>
> Uncoupling temperature-dependent mortality from lipid depletion for
> scleractinian coral larvae.  Coral Reefs 2017, 36: 97-
>
> https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-016-1501-5
>
> Algal symbionts increase oxidative damage and death in coral larvae at
> high temperatures.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 2009, 378: 105-
>
>  https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps_oa/m378p105.pdf
>
> open-access
>
> Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs
> Science 2018, 359: 460-
>
> https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6374/460
>
> open-access
>
> Cheers, Doug
>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Consultant
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
> "Already, more people die  <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml>from
> heat-related causes in the U.S. than from all other extreme weather events
> ."
>
> https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths
>
>
> Even 50-year old climate models correctly predicted global warmng
>
> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/even-50-year-old-climate-models-correctly-predicted-global-warming?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3113276
>
> "Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
> and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them will
> have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
> Science
>
>

-- 
Douglas Fenner
Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
NOAA Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Regional Office
Honolulu
and:
Consultant
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

"Already, more people die  <http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml>from
heat-related causes in the U.S. than from all other extreme weather events."


https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths


Even 50-year old climate models correctly predicted global warmng
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/even-50-year-old-climate-models-correctly-predicted-global-warming?utm_campaign=news_weekly_2019-12-06&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=3113276

"Global warming is manifestly the foremost current threat to coral reefs,
and must be addressed by the global community if reefs as we know them will
have any chance to persist."  Williams et al, 2019, Frontiers in Marine
Science