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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
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 17 2019, @03:15PM (1 child)
Coal mines, while terrible for people who like drinking water, don't produce unstable nitrates in substantial amounts.
It's one of the tough things about science-based environmentalism, is that you have to accept that not all pollution poses the same kind of threat, it's not all just brown radioactive sludge shot from the hands of Captain Pollution. You can't reduce CO2 emissions by recycling your plastic bottles. You can't save air quality by opposing a nuclear plant. You can't stop the Gulf Dead Zone by reducing dependence on fossil fuels. We didn't stop the ozone hole by ending particulate pollution. You can't fix cholera outbreaks by saving the rainforest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 18 2019, @04:12PM
Actually, the Adani mine is a threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Most of the GBR die-offs are attributable to silt run-off from Queensland floods, and it is very likely that Adani will make that worse.