Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday July 17 2019, @11:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-what-you-think dept.

Coral reefs are considered one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet and are dying at alarming rates around the world. Scientists attribute coral bleaching and ultimately massive coral death to a number of environmental stressors, in particular, warming water temperatures due to climate change.

A study published in the international journal Marine Biology, reveals what's really killing coral reefs. With 30 years of unique data from Looe Key Reef in the lower Florida Keys, researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and collaborators have discovered that the problem of coral bleaching is not just due to a warming planet, but also a planet that is simultaneously being enriched with reactive nitrogen from multiple sources.

Improperly treated sewage, fertilizers and top soil are elevating nitrogen levels, which are causing phosphorus starvation in the corals, reducing their temperature threshold for "bleaching." These coral reefs were dying off long before they were impacted by rising water temperatures. This study represents the longest record of reactive nutrients and algae concentrations for coral reefs anywhere in the world.

"Our results provide compelling evidence that nitrogen loading from the Florida Keys and greater Everglades ecosystem caused by humans, rather than warming temperatures, is the primary driver of coral reef degradation at Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area during our long-term study," said Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., senior author and a research professor at FAU's Harbor Branch.

https://phys.org/news/2019-07-years-unique-reveal-coral-reefs.html

-- submitted from IRC

Brian E. Lapointe et al. Nitrogen enrichment, altered stoichiometry, and coral reef decline at Looe Key, Florida Keys, USA: a 3-decade study, Marine Biology (2019). DOI: 10.1007/s00227-019-3538-9


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday July 17 2019, @12:37PM (7 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday July 17 2019, @12:37PM (#867970) Homepage Journal

    The minor rise in ocean temperature never did make sense as a cause for coral bleaching. It good to finally have an explanation that is halfway believable. Easily testable, too. If this can be confirmed, then we're just back to the known problem of sea water pollution.

    There are four main sources of nitrogen pollution:

    - Untreated sewage mostly comes from Asia, to a lesser extent from Africa, with the rest of the world a rounding error. International sanctions seem like a good lever: impose tariffs that drop as river pollution drops.

    - Agricultural runoff is a more general problem, but one that farmers themselves have an incentive to solve. They don't want their top soil and expensive fertilizer running off. What's needed is generally better farming practices. Nothing new, nothing extraordinary, just common sense practices that prevent erosion and preserve land fertility.

    - Runoff, particularly in cities. Due to the sheer quantity, runoff does not go through the sewage plants - it is redirected straight into the rivers. Really, there needs to be a reduced level of treatment or filtering, to remove not only nitrogen, but microplastics (primarily from tires on roads), and other serious pollutants.

    - High-temperature, poorly-controlled combustion. Coal-fired power plants with poor exhaust treatment, or crappy internal combustion engines (for example, cargo ships burning bunker fuel).

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Informative=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 17 2019, @01:32PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday July 17 2019, @01:32PM (#867982)

    Chasing Coral, and other documentaries have looked at sections of the Great Barrier Reef 100+ miles offshore, which are also experiencing significant bleaching.

    It's not surprising that runoff is a major factor so close to "Big Sugar" and the whole Southwest Florida and even Gulf States + Mississippi River outflow of agricultural and residential fertilizers.

    I doubt that runoff is what's killing remote sections of the GBR.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday July 17 2019, @01:36PM (5 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 17 2019, @01:36PM (#867984) Journal
    While I think it's possible that ocean warming has a significant effect on coral bleaching globally (keep in mind that this study is for a particular region and may not apply elsewhere), it is telling that climate change was the default answer for coral bleaching.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 17 2019, @03:30PM (4 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday July 17 2019, @03:30PM (#868025)

      Can you recognize a subtle climate change denial piece when it's put in front of you?

      Coral bleaching is a global phenomenon, both in connection with Nitrogen runoff, and without.

      Sure, Looe Key reef is positioned in extremely close proximity to heavy fertilizer runoff sources - not surprising that that is a prime driver in that location, and if we could wean the Everglades' economy off of Big Sugar things would improve dramatically.

      However, explaining away one highly runoff contaminated reef's bleaching as "mostly not caused by warming" doesn't explain the rest of the bleached reefs around the globe.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 17 2019, @07:48PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 17 2019, @07:48PM (#868181)

        Well, then YOU explain the multitude of UNbleached reefs in this world. Start with those in warmer waters than the ones that bleached.

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 17 2019, @08:10PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 17 2019, @08:10PM (#868193)

          Citations needed, and even if there are multiple sites where coral is doing fine you would then need to have ocean temp measurements for those areas to see if they are experiencing the same increases.

          But knowing this site's user base you are probably just a denying jackass.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 18 2019, @11:26AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 18 2019, @11:26AM (#868450)

            I do not observe ANY of your congregation posting ANY hard data in this whole discussion; only tired, rote, inept insults. Besides, rubbing your snout in search engine output is useless in any case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome [wikipedia.org] is incurable as far as current science knows.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday July 18 2019, @01:33AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 18 2019, @01:33AM (#868312) Journal

        Can you recognize a subtle climate change denial piece when it's put in front of you?

        Sure. But your post isn't that subtle. For example, you don't even bother to present evidence that we're anywhere near a subtle climate change denial piece. It's an insinuation you make and drop.

        Coral bleaching is a global phenomenon, both in connection with Nitrogen runoff, and without.

        Sure. And it would be, even if we were in the hypothetical situation where there was no global warming or nitrogen runoff.

        However, explaining away one highly runoff contaminated reef's bleaching as "mostly not caused by warming" doesn't explain the rest of the bleached reefs around the globe.

        But it might explain most changes in frequency and severity of coral bleaching from say a few centuries ago. At some point, we're going to need evidence to go with that conjecture you've been introducing.