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posted by takyon on Wednesday April 25 2018, @02:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the going,-going,... dept.

Gazette Day reports:

In the year 2016, there was a heatwave that affected many parts of the world. The extreme temperatures were especially felt in and around the continent of Australia. As a result of the heatwave, the waters around the Great Barrier Reef warmed considerably. Scientists were worried that with the oceans already warming due to global climate change, the additional heat stress might cause considerable damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

After the heatwave subsided, a team of scientists conducted tests to find out how the heatwave damaged the reef. Extensive aerial surveys were conducted. These surveys concluded that a great deal of the reef had bleaching that had killed off many parts of the reef. [...] The surveys found that 90 percent of the corals in the reef suffered at least some type of bleaching. The worst damage was on the northernmost third of the reef. In this section, much of the damage was caused by the initial rise in temperature.

The other damage occurred later. The coral reefs depend on a symbiotic relationship with a certain type of algae. Over the course of a few months after the heating event, the algae separated from the reef causing additional reef death.

During the heating event in 2016, one-third of the coral reefs in the world were bleached and damaged in some way. The reefs do have the ability to come back from this [heat-induced damage] as long as the damaging events are not too frequent.

Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0041-2) (DX)


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:28PM (2 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:28PM (#671711)

    Point is, there are some findings that are so well established they don't require citation. For instance, if I employ "F=ma" in a physics paper, nobody's going to complain that I didn't go through in-depth data and research to prove it.

    My guess is that the effects of overheating on coral is quite well established, which isn't a surprising finding because all animals that get too hot have bad things happen to them.

    What you're really saying, I'm reasonably certain, is "I don't believe the Earth is getting warmer, so therefor I'm going to doubt any research that could possibly imply that I'm wrong." Which is a fundamentally anti-scientific position, and you know it.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:36PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:36PM (#671716) Journal

    the effects of overheating on coral is quite well established

    That's why I always simmer my coral, and never boil it. And, never put it in the microwave!

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:58PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday April 25 2018, @05:58PM (#671733) Homepage Journal

    Point is, there are some findings that are so well established they don't require citation.

    And that one is plainly not. Anyone who even sort of paid attention in highschool can cite "F=ma" or "E=mc2" but this is nowhere near that sort of notoriety.

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