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For the second year in a row, Australian marine scientists have carried out the sad task of surveying the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to determine the impact of widespread bleaching caused by elevated sea water temperatures. And for the second year in a row, the findings are grim: Severe bleaching occurred on many of the individual reefs in the middle third of the 2300–kilometer-long system, according to the aerial survey results released today.
In 2016, severe bleaching hit the northern third of the reef. Now, surveys show a significant number of reefs in the central GBR have been hit 2 years in a row. Because it takes at least a decade for a full recovery by the fastest growing corals, there is "zero prospect of recovery" for reefs hit in successive years, says James Kerry, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia.
[For folks in the USA, the length of the GBR is approximately the same as the distance from Chicago, Illinois to Houston, Texas. --Ed.]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Fluffeh on Wednesday April 12 2017, @04:54AM (6 children)
I think what youa re looking for is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_collapse [wikipedia.org]
This was already observed in complete sections around a half year ago:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/21/sections-of-great-barrier-reef-suffering-from-complete-ecosystem-collapse [theguardian.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @05:06AM (5 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @06:56AM
You omit a pertinent, and highly disturbing possibility: khallow is a polyp. Global warming does not exist. All is well! Pay not attention to the man who pays khallow to pretend he is a polyp.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:07PM (1 child)
3. Evolution takes a really long time, and we're very efficient in screwing up the environment
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:31PM
The fossil record indicates both slow and fast evolution. [berkeley.edu]
While the development of entirely new species might be a slow process, there is a great deal of rapid evolution within species, which has been observed. [phys.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 12 2017, @06:06PM (1 child)
3rd Option: What Humans want, and what Darwinian selection provides, are not the same thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @07:01PM
Neither is that a distinct option, nor has anybody argued otherwise.