The silent battle of young corals against ocean acidification

TheScienceBreaker | Science meets Society

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Break submission by Taryn Foster, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Australia

Coral reefs are ecosystems of extraordinary diversity. Considered ‘the rainforests of the sea’, they contain ~35% of described marine species despite only occupying 0.2% of the world’s ocean. Although they are extremely important habitat providers and form large living structures (some reefs can be seen from space!) the coral animals themselves are small and very sensitive to changes in their environmental conditions. A stressed coral can indicate changes in the physical and chemical properties of the seawater and pressures on the whole ecosystem. Coral reefs are currently faced with an unprecedented mix of human-induced stressors, ranging from overfishing of herbivorous fish (which allows turf algae to overgrow the coral), to changes in the water quality from coastal development, dredging and agricultural runoff. (read the Break on TheScienceBreaker)