Despite living in
waters that are more acidic than average seawater, the corals living in
the bays around Palau’s Rock Islands are unexpectedly diverse and healthy.
9 comments:
Juliet
said...
I think this is a really cool article. I really love to snorkel, swim, and snuba around the reefs so reading that not all the reefs are dying is a great relief. I've always wanted to look at areas of the world like that and that is really cool. Snorkeling in Hawaii is really pretty, and if the reefs in Palau are doing the same thing as the reefs in Hawaii and are just as vibrant, that would be really pretty. I hope around the whole world reefs are growing this way because otherwise, if only the reef in Palau survived, there would be so many people who don't know what their doing that it could become a hazard to the public's health. I hope that the reefs will survive and people will stop acidifying the ocean, because that will come back at them as acid rain.
I think that this was a very interesting and good article because it explained everything that it needed and went into depth a lot. I like how they first explained how coral reefs grow and how that relates to the acidic problems. I find it interesting that only one group of coral reefs is thriving while the other coral reefs are dying because of the acidic water. I think that because coral reefs grow by extracting calcium and carbonate ions from seawater and combining them to form calcium carbonate, and this acidic water takes away all the things they need to grow, the coral reef that thrives in this acidic water might do exactly the opposite. I think that it already has an adaption that the other coral reefs don't have. I would rate this article a 9 out of 10 because they made the article very engaging and interesting, but they could have expanded more on the kind of waters around the world and the acidic waters that the coral reef that is thriving in.
Today, it is clear that the Earth has seen some dramatic changes, due to man-made emissions, and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, it is less clear if life on Earth will be able to keep up with the changes happening to the planet currently. During the next few centuries, the oceans will suffer more acidification than they ever have for the past 300 million years. Even if some species are able to adapt to these changes, or even thrive because of these changes, most will not and we may lose millions of different species. One life form that has been able to adapt is a special type of coral reef found only off the coast of Palau's Rock islands in the Pacific ocean. Even though, most coral reefs around the world are deteriorating due to higher acidity levels in sea water, this particular reef is thriving. According to a study of coral reefs, http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/climate-a-ecology-16/reefs-at-low-ph, two kinds of Mediterranean coral reefs, Oculina patagonica and Madracis pharensis, both start to break down at a P.H. level of 7.4. Within four months of testing, both the corals had only 75 percent of the skeletons left. Since normal sea water has a P.H. of 8.2, going from 8.2 to 7.4 may not seem like a big difference, but the oceans will get more and more acidic if we don't do something to stop it. As we learned when my group studied petroleum earlier in the year, we saw the effects of burning fossil fuels on the atmosphere; now we are seeing the effects of climate change on the oceans, and on the coral reefs that do so much to protect many countries, such as Australia and the Philippines, from terrible flooding. How will these countries and the people who live there adapt to this changing environment? One other thing that we need to think about is which and how many species will die out, if the coral reefs are gone. Thousands of species of fish, sharks, and crustaceans may die out. What is particularly distressing is the fact that once the coral reefs are gone, it may be impossible to recreate them in time, or at all.
I really enjoyed reading about this article. I think it is fascinating that a coral reef near the western Pacific islands of Palau thrives in acidic water. Unfortunately, as the article stated, this coral’s unique abilities might not be very helpful to other coral that are plagued by human-induced acidification. This article mainly focused on how coral reefs are affected by the acidity of the water. However, it didn’t really mention how other animals are adapting and living with the same acid levels. Are they surviving well, or are they suffering? In addition, if this question proves that they are suffering, which animals are suffering the most? I was also wondering what mankind can do to minimize the effect of human-induced acidification. Are there counter measures that we can take? In addition, I am curious to know what effect, if any, global warming, including the melting of the polar ice caps, may have on the acidity levels in the water.
This was a great article! I found it extremely interesting that this coral reef can survive in these acidic waters. This research could be very important--especially because acid levels are rising. According to national geographic, they have risen 25% over the last two centuries and according to PMEL carbon program, the acidity in the ocean is expected to rise 150 percent by the end of the century. Another thing that I find fascinating is that the Pacific Ocean has more acidic waters, which we would normally think of as a bad thing. However, because the Pacific Ocean naturally has more acidic waters, the reef has adapted to survive in acid while other reefs cannot because human acidity rates are growing faster than natural acidity rates. I also have a few questions. How high were the acidity levels in the Pacific Ocean? Also, is it possible to transfer these coral that thrive in acidic waters to other oceans? I think that it is possible because coral are often transported. If that is possible, why don't we? Would there be problems? Would the new coral overpower the other animals and plants? For example, the lionfish is a foreign fish that is growing in numbers and is ruining the environments in some places. There could be problems with the new coral in the other oceans. Therefore, I think this is a great article, but I think we should conduct an experiment before we move the coral permanently into other oceans. Also, another worry of mine is that if the coral cannot be kept in other oceans, the other coral will die, and everyone will come to the western Pacific coral reefs to see coral and that ocean will be over-polluted because of the many tourists. Overall, I think this a great article that could definitely improve our world in the near future with more research.
This is a great article. It is especially intriguing to me because it affects the world around us and therefore affects us. In my research, I found a few articles that said that there were two kinds of coral, hard and soft. Apparently, hard coral are the ones that have the skeletons, and soft corals only have hard cores. The articles also said that soft coral are non-reef building coral. From my research and what the article said, the acidic ocean water may not affect soft coral the same as it does to hard coral. Also, from what the article was saying, it sounded almost like the acidic water was stimulating the growth of these amazingly diverse coral, which leads me to some questions. Could the coral actually adapt to benefit from the acidic water? If this area of coral could adapt to do this, why don't other areas around it adapt also? Could they not adapt as quickly because in their lower levels of acid they don't need this adaptation as much? I also thought it was interesting that the article was implying that most of the acid in the water near the Palau reef may not be caused by humans. They mentioned that human acidification occurs much faster and gives the reefs much less time to adapt. However, if the reefs of Palau have adjusted to this much acidification, then what happens when humans start adding more? Is human acidification different than natural kinds, maybe stronger? I think that it is terrible that coral are starting to die. Some articles I read say that some species of coral can live up to 4,000 years old and that established coral reefs live from 5,000 to 10,000 years old, which is an incredibly long time. In conclusion, I think that we should seriously investigate into why this particular reef does so well, and apply it to other coral reefs. Maybe we can find a way to save these amazing species.
I found a really good article. I didn't read the whole article through carefully before I sent it to Ms. Thomas, but I thought it would be good because I researched coral reefs in my previous school and I found an article like this one that I included in my presentation. The presentation was a success and everyone found it interesting that this coral reef could survive this harsh environment. Maybe because the habitants of the reef had time to evolve into this acidic environment, while other reefs have just had to adapt too quickly, making them die. This finding could help researchers figure out how and why the coral could survive and maybe put this knowledge on the other coral.
I would like to respond to Samantha's previous comment. As it occurs, humans can take counter measures. According to national geographic, the ocean absorbs 1/3 of CO2 emissions that we make. We can also stop creating more emissions, and start using "green" sources of energy. To answer the last comment, global warming is because of emission rates. Therefore, global warming itself would not affect the acidity (At least I don't think so) but the cause for global warming does.
I loved this article. I especially loved how they answered most of the questions that a reader could have. For example, towards the beginning of this article, I said to myself, "I wonder why these specific coral reefs can survive this level of acidity." Later on in the article they said that one of the reasons was because they had probably adapted over a long period of time. There were other examples of this throughout the article also. I also was shocked by the fact that not only was this reef doing just as good as others, it was actually doing better. I was really glad to read this article because I had barely even been aware of the acidity levels rising. It is good for me to know it now. I would love to learn more about this topic to see if I can do anything about it, because it is a real problem. I give this article a 10/10 because of how informative it is.
9 comments:
I think this is a really cool article. I really love to snorkel, swim, and snuba around the reefs so reading that not all the reefs are dying is a great relief. I've always wanted to look at areas of the world like that and that is really cool. Snorkeling in Hawaii is really pretty, and if the reefs in Palau are doing the same thing as the reefs in Hawaii and are just as vibrant, that would be really pretty. I hope around the whole world reefs are growing this way because otherwise, if only the reef in Palau survived, there would be so many people who don't know what their doing that it could become a hazard to the public's health. I hope that the reefs will survive and people will stop acidifying the ocean, because that will come back at them as acid rain.
I think that this was a very interesting and good article because it explained everything that it needed and went into depth a lot. I like how they first explained how coral reefs grow and how that relates to the acidic problems. I find it interesting that only one group of coral reefs is thriving while the other coral reefs are dying because of the acidic water. I think that because coral reefs grow by extracting calcium and carbonate ions from seawater and combining them to form calcium carbonate, and this acidic water takes away all the things they need to grow, the coral reef that thrives in this acidic water might do exactly the opposite. I think that it already has an adaption that the other coral reefs don't have. I would rate this article a 9 out of 10 because they made the article very engaging and interesting, but they could have expanded more on the kind of waters around the world and the acidic waters that the coral reef that is thriving in.
Today, it is clear that the Earth has seen some dramatic changes, due to man-made emissions, and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, it is less clear if life on Earth will be able to keep up with the changes happening to the planet currently. During the next few centuries, the oceans will suffer more acidification than they ever have for the past 300 million years. Even if some species are able to adapt to these changes, or even thrive because of these changes, most will not and we may lose millions of different species. One life form that has been able to adapt is a special type of coral reef found only off the coast of Palau's Rock islands in the Pacific ocean. Even though, most coral reefs around the world are deteriorating due to higher acidity levels in sea water, this particular reef is thriving. According to a study of coral reefs, http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/climate-a-ecology-16/reefs-at-low-ph, two kinds of Mediterranean coral reefs, Oculina patagonica and Madracis pharensis, both start to break down at a P.H. level of 7.4. Within four months of testing, both the corals had only 75 percent of the skeletons left. Since normal sea water has a P.H. of 8.2, going from 8.2 to 7.4 may not seem like a big difference, but the oceans will get more and more acidic if we don't do something to stop it. As we learned when my group studied petroleum earlier in the year, we saw the effects of burning fossil fuels on the atmosphere; now we are seeing the effects of climate change on the oceans, and on the coral reefs that do so much to protect many countries, such as Australia and the Philippines, from terrible flooding. How will these countries and the people who live there adapt to this changing environment? One other thing that we need to think about is which and how many species will die out, if the coral reefs are gone. Thousands of species of fish, sharks, and crustaceans may die out. What is particularly distressing is the fact that once the coral reefs are gone, it may be impossible to recreate them in time, or at all.
I really enjoyed reading about this article. I think it is fascinating that a coral reef near the western Pacific islands of Palau thrives in acidic water. Unfortunately, as the article stated, this coral’s unique abilities might not be very helpful to other coral that are plagued by human-induced acidification. This article mainly focused on how coral reefs are affected by the acidity of the water. However, it didn’t really mention how other animals are adapting and living with the same acid levels. Are they surviving well, or are they suffering? In addition, if this question proves that they are suffering, which animals are suffering the most? I was also wondering what mankind can do to minimize the effect of human-induced acidification. Are there counter measures that we can take? In addition, I am curious to know what effect, if any, global warming, including the melting of the polar ice caps, may have on the acidity levels in the water.
This was a great article! I found it extremely interesting that this coral reef can survive in these acidic waters. This research could be very important--especially because acid levels are rising. According to national geographic, they have risen 25% over the last two centuries and according to PMEL carbon program, the acidity in the ocean is expected to rise 150 percent by the end of the century. Another thing that I find fascinating is that the Pacific Ocean has more acidic waters, which we would normally think of as a bad thing. However, because the Pacific Ocean naturally has more acidic waters, the reef has adapted to survive in acid while other reefs cannot because human acidity rates are growing faster than natural acidity rates. I also have a few questions. How high were the acidity levels in the Pacific Ocean? Also, is it possible to transfer these coral that thrive in acidic waters to other oceans? I think that it is possible because coral are often transported. If that is possible, why don't we? Would there be problems? Would the new coral overpower the other animals and plants? For example, the lionfish is a foreign fish that is growing in numbers and is ruining the environments in some places. There could be problems with the new coral in the other oceans. Therefore, I think this is a great article, but I think we should conduct an experiment before we move the coral permanently into other oceans. Also, another worry of mine is that if the coral cannot be kept in other oceans, the other coral will die, and everyone will come to the western Pacific coral reefs to see coral and that ocean will be over-polluted because of the many tourists. Overall, I think this a great article that could definitely improve our world in the near future with more research.
This is a great article. It is especially intriguing to me because it affects the world around us and therefore affects us. In my research, I found a few articles that said that there were two kinds of coral, hard and soft. Apparently, hard coral are the ones that have the skeletons, and soft corals only have hard cores. The articles also said that soft coral are non-reef building coral. From my research and what the article said, the acidic ocean water may not affect soft coral the same as it does to hard coral. Also, from what the article was saying, it sounded almost like the acidic water was stimulating the growth of these amazingly diverse coral, which leads me to some questions. Could the coral actually adapt to benefit from the acidic water? If this area of coral could adapt to do this, why don't other areas around it adapt also? Could they not adapt as quickly because in their lower levels of acid they don't need this adaptation as much? I also thought it was interesting that the article was implying that most of the acid in the water near the Palau reef may not be caused by humans. They mentioned that human acidification occurs much faster and gives the reefs much less time to adapt. However, if the reefs of Palau have adjusted to this much acidification, then what happens when humans start adding more? Is human acidification different than natural kinds, maybe stronger? I think that it is terrible that coral are starting to die. Some articles I read say that some species of coral can live up to 4,000 years old and that established coral reefs live from 5,000 to 10,000 years old, which is an incredibly long time. In conclusion, I think that we should seriously investigate into why this particular reef does so well, and apply it to other coral reefs. Maybe we can find a way to save these amazing species.
I found a really good article. I didn't read the whole article through carefully before I sent it to Ms. Thomas, but I thought it would be good because I researched coral reefs in my previous school and I found an article like this one that I included in my presentation. The presentation was a success and everyone found it interesting that this coral reef could survive this harsh environment. Maybe because the habitants of the reef had time to evolve into this acidic environment, while other reefs have just had to adapt too quickly, making them die. This finding could help researchers figure out how and why the coral could survive and maybe put this knowledge on the other coral.
I would like to respond to Samantha's previous comment. As it occurs, humans can take counter measures. According to national geographic, the ocean absorbs 1/3 of CO2 emissions that we make. We can also stop creating more emissions, and start using "green" sources of energy. To answer the last comment, global warming is because of emission rates. Therefore, global warming itself would not affect the acidity (At least I don't think so) but the cause for global warming does.
I loved this article. I especially loved how they answered most of the questions that a reader could have. For example, towards the beginning of this article, I said to myself, "I wonder why these specific coral reefs can survive this level of acidity." Later on in the article they said that one of the reasons was because they had probably adapted over a long period of time. There were other examples of this throughout the article also. I also was shocked by the fact that not only was this reef doing just as good as others, it was actually doing better. I was really glad to read this article because I had barely even been aware of the acidity levels rising. It is good for me to know it now. I would love to learn more about this topic to see if I can do anything about it, because it is a real problem. I give this article a 10/10 because of how informative it is.
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