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18 Jun 2009 15:24:20
A senior figure at the University of Bedfordshire has been involved in research which indicates the world’s coral reefs face increased threat from global warming.
The world’s coral reefs face disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage caused by global warming, according to James Crabbe, Dean of the faculty of CATS at the University.
This is one of the findings from a new scientific study of the fate of corals in the wake of large climate-driven bleaching and storm events.
As global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, Professor Crabbe and his colleague, lead author Dr Jennie Mallela, used the island of Tobago in the Caribbean as their laboratory.
They backtracked to 1980 to see what had happened to the corals in the wake of nine hurricanes, tropical storms and bleaching events.
Dr Mallela is from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Australian National University.
Professor Crabbe said: “This finding mirrors our modelling studies on the fringing reefs of Jamaica, and on the Mesoamerican Barrier reef off the coast of Belize.”
Tobago lies outside the main Caribbean hurricane belt and is more typical of the circumstances of most coral reefs around the world. Nevertheless its corals are disrupted by a major storm or bleaching every three or four years – and the frequency of this may be growing.
Dr Mallela said: “While our work was carried out in the Caribbean, it has general implications for coral reefs globally, and deepens our concern as to what may happen to them as global warming advances and the world’s climate becomes more tempestuous.”
The research paper is published in the latest issue of ‘Marine Environmental Research (2009)’.
Professor Crabbe has also been invited to an emergency meeting at the Royal Society of London on the state of the world’s coral reefs and the impact of climate change.
The meeting will take place on Monday, 6 July, and is being jointly organised by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean, the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society.
The scientific community is aiming to send a clear and urgent message to the public and policy makers clarifying the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere that will give coral reef ecosystems a good chance of survival in the medium to long term.
And they are seeking to outline what level of cuts in CO2 emissions will be necessary to attain those reef-safe levels.
Latest news» 2009» June» World's coral reefs are under threat
