A new study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology shows the existential threat climate change poses to the planet’s coral reefs and marine life. Researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa found that, under a worst-case scenario in which “climate change continues unabated,” half of the planet’s coral reefs face existential threats from disturbances like ocean acidification, climate change-worsened hurricanes, and even land-based pollution—disturbances that are already devastating coral reefs and other marine life.
“We know that corals are vulnerable to increasing sea surface temperatures and marine heat waves due to climate change,” study co-author Erik Franklin said in a press release. “But it is important to include the complete anthropogenic (environmental change caused or influenced by human activity) impact from numerous stressors that coral reefs are exposed to in order to get a better sense of the overall risks to these ecosystems.” Franklin is an associate research professor at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology.
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Still alarming is the best-case scenario, in which 41% of the Earth’s coral reefs would still find themselves in unsuitable conditions by 2100. Under the worst-case scenario? That percentage skyrockets to 99% of coral reefs by 2100. There are ways to mitigate such an environmental disaster—chief among them reaching net-zero goals globally—and University of Hawaii at Manoa researchers plan to conduct further studies assessing individual coral species and how best to protect the most vulnerable from the climate crisis.
Additional conservation efforts are being conducted in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Last week, NOLA.com reported that the federal government plans to spend $125 million to address stony coral tissue loss disease. Under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s response and prevention plan, additional research and sampling would be conducted along with exploring alternative treatments and prevention measures. Stony coral tissue loss disease has already gravely harmed Florida’s coral reef, as well as reefs near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
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