{"id":3783,"date":"2022-02-23T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3783"},"modified":"2022-02-10T03:03:37","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T03:03:37","slug":"a-1-5-c-rise-in-earths-temperature-could-spell-doom-for-our-coral-reefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/a-1-5-c-rise-in-earths-temperature-could-spell-doom-for-our-coral-reefs\/","title":{"rendered":"A 1.5-\u00b0C Rise In Earth\u2019s Temperature Could Spell Doom For Our Coral Reefs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the United Nations Environment Programme<\/a>, all the coral reefs the world over support as much as 25% of all marine species despite covering only 0.2% of the total area of the world\u2019s seafloor. The statistic just goes to show just how dense marine life truly is in these small areas\u2014and how prone these reefs are to damage brought about by climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study published in the journal PLOS Climate<\/em><\/a> appears to prove just how fragile Earth\u2019s marine biodiversity has become thanks to our environmentally-detrimental actions, as it appears that we may only be a 1.5-\u00b0C temperature rise away, globally speaking, before we stand to lose most of these natural marine habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team that arrived at this startling conclusion is composed of University of Leeds\u2019 Piers Forster and Maria Beger, Texas Tech University\u2019s Anne Stoner, and James Cook University\u2019s Scott Heron. University of Leeds Ph.D. candidate Adele Dixon served as lead author of the paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coral reefs cover only about 2% of the total seafloor area, yet contain as much as a quarter of all marine species near or within them in total. (Ungaro, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The main contributor to this eventual loss of coral reefs, the authors say, is the rise in average global temperatures<\/a>. Corals had evolved to live within specific temperature ranges through the millions of years since they appeared on Earth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With human activities contributing to a steady rise in global temperatures and heating the oceans in the process, corals are agitated; as a result, they expel the algae that live within their tissues, which otherwise would have provided them with nutrients via photosynthesis in exchange for shelter. As a result, the corals lose their color and turn white\u2014the color of the coral\u2019s secreted calcium carbonate (CaCO3<\/sub>) skeleton that\u2019s left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dixon and the team warn the public with their paper that at a 1.5-\u00b0C rise in global warming due to climate change\u2014a metric that recent estimates predict we\u2019ll reach by the early 2030s should our climate-damaging effects remain unchanged\u2014the oceans will be hit by so much frequent heat waves that 99% of the world\u2019s coral reefs will be unable to recover, according to the authors\u2019 discussion of their work on The Conversation<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bleached coral reefs above are part of the Moofushi island\u2019s features, located in Maldives\u2019 South Ari Atoll. The area was hit by an El Ni\u00f1o event back in 1998; this photo was taken in 2006, showing just how much time these corals need to heal should they be damaged by climate change. (de Giusti, 2006)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The 99% loss predicted by Dixon and the team is greater than the 70%-90% loss predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a>, according to their 2018 report on the matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the disastrous effects of this unfortunate event stretch beyond just the corals and the other animals that call them home. Humans living in coastal communities, who may depend on the variety of fish that live in coral reefs near their shores for livelihoods and sustenance, stand to lose the most should the conundrum be left without a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, corals need plenty of time to rebuild their internal structures, as they grow very slowly. They also stand to experience even more detrimental effects due to other manmade actions alongside global warming, like pollution and overfishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fishing is a source of livelihood for at least a billion people, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. These communities stand to lose the most should climate change be left unabated and our coral reefs vanish. (Kweku, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlobal warming of 1.5\u00b0C is the lower limit that world leaders aspired to maintain when they signed the Paris agreement in 2015. This target is moving further out of reach<\/a>. For coral reefs, there is no safe limit to global warming. Given the rate at which the global average temperature is increasing, marine heatwaves are likely to become so frequent that most of the world\u2019s coral reefs will experience intolerable heat stress regularly. Most reefs have already experienced at least one such event this decade,\u201d the authors noted in The Conversation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors note that this will affect even the most resistant of coral species; this means that simply leaving our current activities unabated will not solve the issue, and thus demand more effective measures like cutting greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n