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In a Hotter Future, What Comes After Coral Reefs Die?
- Scientists report that mass coral death is occurring worldwide as ocean temperatures approach 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels.
- This decline results from climate change causing corals to expel the algae that sustain them, with warming expected to reach 1.5°C within a decade.
- The IPCC predicts that 70 to 90 percent of coral reefs will perish at 1.5°C, rising to 99 percent at 2°C, threatening about one billion people relying on reefs.
- Experts like Obura and Dallison emphasize the need to accept the situation and protect remaining reefs by tackling pollution, overfishing, and harmful subsidies to improve resilience.
- While some coral strains show thermal tolerance and restoration efforts hold promise, saving reefs remains extremely difficult as long as carbon emissions continue rising.
55 Articles
55 Articles
NewScientist
Anti-Aging, Acupuncture and Health NewsThere may be a surprising upside to losing coral reefs as oceans warm
As warmer waters and ocean acidification reduce coral formation, the seas will take up more carbon dioxide – an effect that hasn't been included in climate models
The future of coral reefs is clear enough for science: at 1.5°C of global warming, the threshold that the planet is now almost certain to cross, most corals should die.
The fate of coral is sealed, according to climate science: with 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming, most reefs will not survive. It is not a distant scenario. Scientists predict that the 1.5°C increase will be reached in a decade and that, from that point on, many corals will simply not be able to survive. It is important to assume that fact and wonder what continues “rather than trying to cling to the past,” says David Obura, president of IP…
Clown fish in Papua New Guinea is shrinking in response to heat stress
NASA says climate change could decimate coral reefs by by 2050. And recent study in the journal Science Advances finds that clown fish in Papua New Guinea is shrinking in response to heat stress.
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