Martin H. Eastburn wrote:
> A lot of good information on reefs.  Here is some inputs I gathered
> while living in the south Pacific.
>
> Reefs are hard to kill when healthy.  A blunder of one type or another
> might
> break off sections of exposed beauty.  When the health is right, rapid
> regrowth
> can occur.

This is true. But the biggest threat to the coral reefs from the
Tortugas to Palm Beach, one of the largest and most diverse reefs in the
world, is not blunders that break off sections of the reef but (1)
disolved CO2 which must not exceed 450ppm, and (2) high levels of
nitrogen, phosphorous and other algae nutrients in ocean-dumped sewerage
and runoff.
>
> I think the real precursor might be those corals that live in 6' or less
> water.  When
> they get get to deep or atop water they tend to die.  The deep corals,
> won't notice
> a difference in depth. The reef corals - those that bob out of water
> every low tide
> might drown.

Reefs adapt well to rising and falling sea levels. The exposed base of
the main south Florida reef section was once awash and the dead stands
of shallow water coral can still be seen. The sea level has risen about
65' as a result of the global warming of the past 17,000 years, but the
reef is still there, with a 20' cap of deep water corals, and (barely)
alive. Corings show that the reef has sunk, under its own weight, into
the limestone substrate, and is a layer cake of alternating shallow and
deep water corals corresponding to the cycles of rising and falling sea
levels.

The threats to the reef are man made, and much more insidious than the
occasional wayward barge. South Florida still dumps 500 million gallons
a day of minimally treated sewerage directly onto the reefs. CO2 levels
continue to rise. No one really cares, the nice thing about the ocean
bottom is that it is out of sight, and out of mind.

To see what Reef Rescue is doing, please go to www.reef-rescue.org

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