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A robust coral reef in Palau.

A robust coral reef in Palau.
A robust coral reef in Palau.
A robust coral reef in Palau.
A robust coral reef in Palau.
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396744
Barkley, Hannah
A robust coral reef in Palau.
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03/30/2012
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Caption from Oceanus online article image slideshow (URL link below):
WHOI scientists found this robust coral reef living in a location where (for naturally occurring reasons) seawater is more acidic than normal. Generally, such conditions would thwart corals because they use carbonate ions in seawater to build their skeletons, and more acidic seawater has fewer carbonate ions in it for corals to use. These corals in Palau, however, apparently have adapted to more acidic conditions that are expected to occur in the oceans over coming decades.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, vol. 50, no. 2, page 65:
Conditions in the oceans are rapidly changing. Can vibrant coral ecosystems and other marine life adapt?
Image Of the Day caption:
Lush, diverse, healthy coral reefs in Palau are living where they shouldn't beunder lower-than-normal pH levels that are equal to what the ocean is projected to have by the end of this century if fossil fuel emissions continue at their present rate. WHOI scientist Anne Cohen and graduate student Hannah Barkley, partnering with scientists at the Palau International Coral Feef Center and The Nature Conservancy and with funding from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, are studying these corals, in an effort to understand how they acquire resilience to ocean acdification. The information will be used to identify and protect coral reefs that have the best chance of surviving 21st-century climate change.
Photo by Hannah Barkley
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/a-quest-for-resilient-reefs
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