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Coral Bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

January 27, 2018 DReynolds

The following article first appeared on the Research Blog for Dr. Neil Hammerschlag’s Shark Research and Conservation (SRC) Lab website at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. To learn more about SRC, visit here: http://sharkresearch.rsmas.miami.edu/, or to learn more about the University’s marine science school, please click here: http://rsmas.miami.edu/.

By Delaney Reynolds, SRC intern

Coral reefs are some of planet earth’s most spectacular, diverse and important ecosystems. Our planet’s coral reefs provide important shelter, habitats, and a source of food for many different species of marine organisms. They also act as a critical food source to humans, as well a natural barrier to help protect our coastlines from hurricanes and associated storm surges. Sadly, coral reefs face growing risks including the possibility of extinction from a variety of stresses that leads to coral bleaching.

Figure 1: Coral from which the zooxanthellae has been expelled, causing it to turn white (Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Keppelbleaching.jpg)

Coral bleaching is the process in which zooxanthellae, algae living symbiotically within the coral, are expelled from coral colonies due to a number of factors including an increase in temperature, decrease in pH, exposure to UV radiation, reduced salinity, and bacterial infections. Zooxanthellae provide the coral 30% of its nitrogen and 91% of its carbon needs to the coral host in exchange for a shelter, as well as waste produced by the coral from nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon dioxide that is required for the algae’s growth (Baird, 2002).

When corals bleach, it effects entire marine communities due to their immense diversity. Fish populations that reside around coral reefs “are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries” (Graham, 2008). Researchers have found that when an ecosystem endures physical coral loss, fish species richness is extremely likely to decline due to their heavy reliance on the coral colony itself (Graham, 2008).

Perhaps the most famous current example of coral bleaching is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Scientists have determined that the main cause of Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching is induced thermal stress and that about 90% of the reef has been bleached since 1998 (Baird, 2002). As the corals bleach and temperatures increase, researchers have determined that shark and ray species that live in the area may be vulnerable to these climactic changes.

Figure 2: Exposure of Ecological Groups of GBR Sharks and Rays to Climate Change Factors. This figure displays the vulnerability different elasmobranch species face due to climate change, as well as the specific effects of climate change that they are vulnerable to, in the specific zones of the Great Barrier Reef. (Image Source: Chin et al. 2010)

Most of the Great Barrier Reef is located on the mid-shelf of the ocean floor, the approximate mid-point between the shallower coast of Australia and the continental shelf where the ocean bottom significantly drops in depth. Researchers found that the mid-shelf is the area where most of the shark species studied reside, while most rays dwell in coastal waters or closer to the continental shelf. It was also found that both areas are the susceptible to rising temperature, increased storm frequency and intensity, increasing acidity, current alterations, and freshwater runoff, all being caused by climate change (Chin, 2010). Based on these findings, researchers have concluded that the areas these elasmobranchs live in should be protected and preserved. Species in these highly vulnerable areas should also be monitored and considered for future conservation actions, as many of the shark species are already experiencing the effects of climate change from some of the aforementioned factors.

Typically, sharks are considered some of the strongest animals on earth, and while they have lived on earth for at least 420 million years, they are slow to adapt. This slowness has impeded their ability to survive in our rapidly changing climate. In the near future it will be common to see some species of marine organisms demonstrate plasticity, the ability to adapt to their changing environment, but other species, such as elasmobranchs, are expected to simply distribute to other habitats in search of cooler waters. Even though sharks are a highly vulnerable species to climate change, they sit at the top of the trophic level in many different niches and, thus, wherever they migrate to, it will be easier for them to find food than it would be for other species such as fish or rays. However, this is most likely only the case for adult sharks as embryos and juvenile sharks may be more vulnerable to increased temperatures. For instance, researchers found that the survival of bamboo shark embryos decreased from 100% at current temperatures to 80% under future ocean temperature scenarios and that the embryonic period was also shortened, not allowing the embryo enough time to develop fully (Rosa, 2014).

To decrease the effects of climate change on coral bleaching, corrective and mitigation measures can be taken. By utilizing green energy sources such as implementing solar power or wind power, walking or biking, and driving electric cars, we can reduce our use of fossil fuels and carbon footprint, thus decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide polluting and warming our atmosphere and oceans. While underwater and not always visible, coral reefs are truly a vital part of our ecosystem and need to be cherished and protected for generations to come.

References

Baird, A. H., & Marshall, P. A. (2002, July 18). Mortality, growth and reproduction in scleractinian corals following bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Retrieved from https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1521/1/Baird_and_Marshall_2002.pdf

Chin, A., Kyne, P. M., Walker, T. I. and McAuley, R. B. (2010), An integrated risk assessment for climate change: analyzing the vulnerability of sharks and rays on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Global Change Biology, 16: 1936–1953. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02128.x

Graham, N. A., McClanahan, T. R., MacNeil, M. A., Wilson, S. K., Polunin, N. V., Jennings, S., . . . Sheppard, C. R. (2008, August 27). Climate Warming, Marine Protected Areas and the Ocean-Scale Integrity of Coral Reef Ecosystems. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003039

Rosa, R., Baptista, M., Lopes, V. M., Pegado, M. R., Paula, J. R., Trubenbach, K., . . . Repolho, T. (2014, August 13). Early-life exposure to climate change impairs tropical shark survival. Retrieved November 2, 2017, from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royprsb/281/1793/20141738.full.pdf

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Righteousness or Reality?

November 9, 2017 DReynolds

Righteousness

Just when I thought I’d heard everything possible from the Trump Administration’s attack on our environment, including doing all they could possibly dream up to deny that man’s use of fossil fuels to power our cars and utilities and lives contributes to our planet’s climate crisis, comes this headline:

Energy chief Rick Perry says fossil fuels can prevent sexual assault

Wait.

What?

It will not surprise anyone that Perry, the former Governor of Texas and 2016 Presidential Candidate who is now President Trumps Energy Secretary, is a loyalist to fossil fuels given that his home state is filled with the stuff and that most of America’s biggest oil companies are based there. But now it appears that we’ve learned he is not only deeply biased but perhaps delusional too.

At an event sponsored by Axios and NBC News Perry explained that on a recent trip to Africa a girl there told him that electricity was important to her because she wanted to avoid using a lamp that produces noxious fumes to read at night, to study. He then went on in the interview to say:

“electricity also was important from the standpoint of sexual assault. When the lights are on, when you have light that shines the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts.”

When I read the word righteousness I immediately think of its use in the context of religion or morality. To hear the United States Energy Secretary, a member of the President’s Cabinet, use it to tout the use of fossil fuels or to seemingly suggest that fossil fuels serve a righteous purpose is alarming. Could he be trying to suggest that God supports the use of fossil fuels? Or that the distribution and use of fossil fuels hold some moral purpose? You can decide for yourself by reading the article that caught my attention here but such a statement is troubling on any level (sickening really) and to read his comments that there is a link, or what he called a ‘positive role’, between fossil fuels and preventing sexual assault, is deeply disturbing.

REAL NEWS FLASH To Secretary Perry: Electricity is generated all over the world by all sorts of power sources other than fossil fuels including clean, sustainable sources such as the sun (solar), water (hydro) and wind.

I’ve been to Africa but I’ve not yet been to India. Thankfully former late night TV host and comedian David Letterman traveled to India as a Correspondent for the Season Two Premier of National Geographic’s Years of Living Dangerously entitled ‘A Race Against Time’ where he reported finding children studying at night by noxious kerosene burning lamps. He also reported that some 300 Million people in India (nearly the equivalent of the entire population of the United States) have no electricity of any type and that solar power is being used to provide electricity to change their lives for the better.

If you’ve not seen Years of Living Dangerously, a show that’s been called ‘must watch television’, then click here and start with David’s excellent episode and while you’re at it catch the episode entitled Saving Miami to learn about Miami’s plight.

Reality

I believe that our planet’s climate change crisis is the most significant issue that my generation will ever face. Of that I am certain and while I don’t know Jeff Dorian I sure do agree with what he wrote in a Letter to the Editor in the November 2^ndedition of the Miami Herald and want to share it as a dose of reality.

DENYING REALITY

I smoked cigarettes for 30-plus years. I ignored the warnings — liked them too much; kept thinking they wouldn’t affect me. The odds were in my favor. There is no family history of cancer, and my diet and exercise regimes were excellent.

Then came the heart attack.

I quit smoking, but the damage was done: irreversible loss of functioning capacity. If only I’d quit sooner, surely my health would be much better today.

All of us face a similar dilemma today. We must give up fossil fuels. Most Americans don’t think carbon emissions will affect them. The threat seems unsure and far in the future. We enjoy cheap fuel and fast cars too much. We don’t know how to give them up.

The warnings, again from scientists, again are clear and easy to understand. The deniers in Congress are once again denying and supporting business interests over protecting the public interest.

Once again, the damage is irreversible. My heart is not going to get stronger, and the ocean is not going to recede. People are now dying from effects of carbon emissions and associated climate change.

The solution, though not easy, is exquisitely simple: Just Google carbon fee.

– Jeff Dorian, Plantation

The debate on whether man has impacted our climate is long over; 97% of all scientists agree that that’s exactly what has happened and that carbon in our atmosphere has never been higher and that earth’s temperatures have, in 137 years of recorded data, never been hotter. And if we set politics, and ridiculous statements such as what Secretary Perry said last week aside, even the Trump’s Administration knows the truth and just published it on Friday November 3^rd in America’s annual National Climate Assessment.

Hundreds of experts from 13 agencies in our federal government and the academic world researched and wrote the report which was then peer-reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences. You can find the report here and once you’ve read it, or read one of the many articles published about it in recent days like this one, we should all ask ourselves whether we, as citizens of this planet, will continue to allow politicians and their puppets to lie to us, to disrespect us, or do we decide to elect leaders who are serious about solving this well documented problem?

IF the Trump Administration’s goal is to truly do what’s righteous for our country’s future then allow me to suggest that the President announce that the United States will quickly become the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels and that America will install solar power any and everywhere in our Country as well as in places such as Africa and, for that matter, India too. Make it our generation’s ‘trip to the moon’ as President Kennedy did in the early 1960’s when he made sending men to explore the moon our national focus. The reality is that such an inspirational initiative would create millions of jobs while changing people’s lives and our environment for the better at the same time.

Now that is a reality that I can support and one that would be truly filled with righteousness.

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Science Trumps Politics

January 1, 2017 DReynolds

When I created The Sink or Swim Project and began my work on climate change, I immediately noticed that the old fashioned ways of our world were nearly always protected by politicians motivated to protect special interest groups that poured money into their hands to allow ‘business as usual’. In the years since I’ve seen politics protect established industries, businesses and approaches time and time again, often without regards to the existence of better approaches or, for that matter, facts or science.

Last summer’s Amendment One fight, a case where Florida’s electrical utilities lead by Flower Power & Light (or as I wrote in a blog, FP&Lies) spent about $22 Million to try to mislead voters into supporting a deceptive new law that would limit solar power here in the Sunshine State as has happened in other states. The good news is that as a result of a grass-root effort to educate voters of the truth that was led by Floridians for Solar Choice, Jimmy Buffet and many others, including The Sink or Swim Project, the Amendment was defeated. The ‘bad’ news is that it has been reported that the electrical utility industry is also spending another $20 Million in political donations to Florida lawmakers in hopes that Florida Senators and Representatives will help them achieve what Florida voters stopped.

It verges on despicable that these businesses would do this but not surprising that they want to protect their profits. Yet, if we are ever going to move from a fossil fuel based economy of oil and coal that pumps carbon into our atmosphere to one that’s sustainable, then we are going to need to focus on science and place it and the good of our environment over the profits of established businesses that sure don’t seem sincere about evolving towards sustainability.

And as 2017 begins doing just that, having many of our national and state elected officials put science over politics is, I suspect, going to be more challenging than has been the case in nearly a decade but that’s what we must fight for every day from now on. All of us must set politics aside whenever possible and focus on facts. Facts such as that our planet has never been warmer since man invented the thermometer. Unless one does not believe that a thermometer measures the temperature around us then there’s no way to dispute that our planet is hotter than ever in recorded history and that heat records are set nearly every single year now. The science and that little scientific instrument called a thermometer tell us that (please see my blog from last year on temperature).

And before someone again disputes man’s impact, or that we are warming our planet to alarming levels, then consider that I expect that any day now we will hear scientists conclude that 2016 was the hottest year on record, breaking the record set in 2015 which broke the prior record set in 2014 and so it goes. And if thermometers don’t convince some that earth has been warming as a result of man-made carbon from fossil fuels then perhaps the science related to the melting Antarctic ice will help prove the point.

In The Washington Post’s article (click here to read the entire article) entitled; 2016’s warm Arctic winter is ‘extreme’ even in era of fossil fuels, scientists say, numerous scientists explain that the melting ice in the Antarctic is caused by man. As the article, and the science, noted:

The analysis found that the temperatures above 80 degrees North latitude were “unprecedented in the satellite era from 1979 onwards.” It also found that these temperatures would be highly unlikely in a climate that is unperturbed by human influences and that even in our current climate, heavily influenced by humans, they are pretty unexpected.

And if these facts don’t lead those who deny what’s happening to become enlightened then perhaps simple images will do the trick. Pictures such as these that I took from late last year all over Miami when places that historically did not flood on sunny days, days where high tides during the full moon phase combined with the ever increasing levels of our oceans, now routinely flood with salt water, are becoming common. Unless someone simply wants to overlook these pictures, or science, it should be obvious that we humans have created a problem that must be fixed by we humans.

As 2017 starts, the good news is that despite the challenges that we will likely face over the next few years the solutions are already trending in the right direction. In a few years it’s predicted that man’s use of fossil fuels will reach its peak as people and many businesses begin to demand the use of sustainable solutions over those such as oil and coal.

It is also good news that after our success on Amendment One last summer, America’s largest solar installation company, Elon Musk’s’ Solar City, announced plans to begin business in Florida and to expand rapidly here (to learn more, click here). That, along with the dramatically lower cost to install solar (much less the free energy it generates forever once installed) are signs that coal producers and traditional utilities can’t dispute. One of my dreams, that The Sunshine State can become The Solar State is, thankfully, alive and well and trending in the right direction.

And speaking of Mr. Musk, one of today’s most important innovators, he just might be single handedly helping move the auto industry away from fossil fuels (oil) to batteries through his Tesla brand that in a year or two will mass produce affordable battery operated cars at a cost of about $35,000 each. And if that’s not enough, then perhaps the Tesla ‘Gigafactory’ for batteries in Nevada is proof. Why is such an innovative businessman doing these things? It’s because he knows that these are the products that consumers of the future demand and that, for him and his employees, that is good business.

And it’s those trend examples along with the science, that all of us should focus on, support and advocate as these are the things that hold the hope and promise of our future more than any short sighted politician, stale business or old fashioned industry ever will.

Allow me to begin the end of this New Year blog by sharing a letter to the editor that appeared in this week’s Miami Herald that makes my point as well or better than I can. I don’t know Mr. Schwartz, its author, but I sure do agree with him and feel his sentiments are worth all of us keeping in mind no matter how challenging 2017 or the next few years might seem. Progress is being made and much is trending in the right direction and that’s mostly because of the science and the truth…

SCIENCE AND TRUTH

The whole point of science is that it is objective.

It is not limited to one person’s subjective opinion or ideas. And it is backed with empirical evidence, which is reproducible independently. It is the closest we will ever come to truth on this planet.

The fact that it is being attacked because some people don’t like the consequences of what it is telling us, specifically climate change, is dangerous.

It is the same as when the pope, during the Roman Catholic Inquisition, had Galileo arrested and excommunicated because he discovered that the Earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa.

This nation was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment, and to attack those principles is to attack the very foundations of this country. It is what demagogues and tyrants do when they want total power.

We cannot allow this to happen.

Regardless of our particular political persuasion, we are all patriots first and we must defend our country against those who want to divide and conquer us.

– David Schwartz, Miami

As an example of what we can do when average people focus on the science and the truth is what we accomplished in North Dakota by, at least temporarily, putting a stop to the expansion of an oil pipeline that places the Indian tribe’s water supply and heritage, much less our environment, at risk. I know that the fight in North Dakota is far from over, but the fact that Americans of all types could rise up to protect the tribe and our environment (you can read more about this in my blog from late last year by clicking here) is a good sign and gives me hope for the future.

And what should any of us want on the first day of a new year but hope. Lots of hope. Science and truth give me great hope but so do other signs that can found brewing all around us. So, during what might seem like the dark days ahead please don’t forget the good signs and progress that is being made. Please. Progress is being made and were are now at a point, or nearly so, where a sustainable future cannot be denied.

Here’s to you and your family having a Happy, Healthy (and Hopeful) New Year!

New Year’s Postscripts

Thanks to my friends at former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality for the phrase Science Trumps Politics. I suspect that I will be using it often over the next four years. To learn more about Climate Reality or to consider attending a Climate Reality Training, which I highly suggest, click here.

Thanks also to the University of Miami for the most excellent news that arrived in the mail at my home just before Christmas of my being accepted to one of the world’s most renowned marine science schools on earth, the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/), much less being honored with a President’s Scholarship. I can’t wait for my undergrad studies to start in August and officially be a CANE!

And lastly, allow me to share with you that The Sink or Swim Project is now officially and formally a 503(c) non-profit corporation (Federal Identification # 81-4570941) under the Internal Revenue Code Public Charity Section 170 (b) (1) (A) (vi). Tax deductible donations can be made to The Sink or Swim Project Inc., can be deducted under the IRC’s Sections 170, 2055, 2106 or 2522 and so the next time you decide to support our work, whether with a donation or by buying some of our merch (click here to find out latest offerings) you can do so on a bonafide tax deductible basis.

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