Adopt a Coral Reef Today!

Adopt a Coral Reef

You can help protect the world's most beautiful and diverse places when you Adopt a Coral Reef today.
The Nature Conservancy's Adopt a Coral Reef program raises funds for important coral reef projects in the Dominican Republic, Palau and Papua New Guinea.
As some of the most biodiverse and wondrous places in the world, coral reefs need our immediate attention. If the present rate of destruction continues, 70% of the world's coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 2050.
With your help, The Nature Conservancy is protecting the world's coral reefs and all the corals, fish and people that depend on them.
The Nature Conservancy's Adopt a Coral Reef program provides critical funds for the permanent protection and restoration of some of the last great places on Earth.
Through Adopt a Coral Reef, you can help protect the following threatened habitats:

• Dominican Republic
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea

By adopting a coral reef today, you can make a world of difference.

Reports of Extensive Damage to America Samoa Coral Reef

Posted at 08:15 on 07 October, 2009 UTC

An advisory group on American Samoa’s coral reefs says anecdotal reports on the impact of last week’s tusnami show extensive structural damage in some areas.
The Coral Reef Initiative’s co-ordinator, Jeremy Goldberg, says teams of divers have been inspecting the reefs and he expects to be able to issue a report on their condition within the next couple of days.
He says the territory’s renowned for having some of the Pacific’s most pristine and resilient coral, with five times as many species as Hawaii.
Mr Goldberg says clearing the reefs of debris quickly is crucial to prevent it from causing more damage as it’s moved by wave action.

“Some of the anecdotal evidence coming in is that there has been a tremendous amount of structural damage done to a few of the coral reefs around some of the heavily impacted areas. Large amounts of debris have been seen on some of the reefs. But it’s looking like the damage is moderate in most places and even minimal in some habitats so that’s a good sign.”

Jeremy Goldberg of American Samoa’s Coral Reef Initiative.

News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

Global Warming Good News for Coral Reefs

Coral reefs around the world could expand in size by up to a third in response to increased ocean warming and the greenhouse effect, according to Australian scientists.

"Our analysis suggests that ocean warming will foster considerably faster future rates of coral reef growth that will eventually exceed pre-industrial rates by as much as 35 per cent by 2100," says Dr Ben McNeil, an oceanographer from the University of News South Wales. "Our finding stands in stark contrast to previous predictions that coral reef growth will suffer large, potentially catastrophic, decreases in the future," says McNeil, who led and published the research in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, with colleagues Dr Richard Matear of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Dr David Barnes from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville.

Previous research has predicted a decline of between 20 and 60 percent in the size of coral reefs by 2100 relative to pre-industrial levels due to increasing CO2 levels in ocean surface waters. The new research suggests that present coral reef calcification rates are not in decline and are equivalent to late 19th century levels.

Coral reefs are built from calcium carbonate when red algae cement together a framework of coral skeletons and sediments. Seawater surface temperatures and the quantity of carbonate in seawater dictate their growth rate.

The Australian scientists have observed the calcification-temperature relationship at significant reef-building colonies around the world in the Indo-Pacific and at massive Porites reef colonies in Australia, Hawaii, Thailand, the Persian Gulf and New Ireland.

The predicted increase in the rate of coral reef calcification is most likely due to an enhancement in coral metabolism and/or increases in photosynthetic rates of red algae, according to the scientists. They used projections of ocean warming and CO2 concentration from a CSIRO climate model that accounts for atmosphere-ice and ocean carbon cycles.

"Our results show that increases in coral reef calcification associated with ocean warming outweigh decreases associated with increased atmospheric CO2", says CSIRO’s Dr Richard Matear. "While initially showing a decrease in calcification up to 1964, ocean warming outweighs the CO2 effect and stimulates recovery of coral reef calcification. Our results represent an average over the entire coral reef community and it will be important to undertake more specific regional analysis of models to better understand future changes in regions such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef."

Dr David Barnes from the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville says: "Coral reef calcification and the changes suggested in our research are separate to the adverse future effects of coral bleaching which is associated with the corals symbiotic micro-algae, and the significant impacts of human activities such as poor water quality, and unsustainable fishing on many of the worlds coral reefs."

Dr Ben McNeil | Source: EurekAlert!

Coral Reefs In Crisis

* Coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate worldwide.
* An estimated 25% of coral reefs have already disappeared and an estimated two-thirds of all coral reefs are at risk today.
* An estimated 88% of the reefs in Southeast Asia - the most species rich reefs on earth - are at risk.
* Since 1975, more than 90% of the reefs in the Florida Keys have lost their living coral cover (study by Dr. Phil Dustan).
* Threats to the world's coral reefs include:
o -Pollution
o -Disease
o -Over-fishing
o -Dynamite and cyanide fishing
o -Sedimentation
o -Bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures

* Called the "rainforests of the sea," coral reefs are the greatest expression of ocean life, and the most biodiverse ecosystem on Earth with 30 of 34 known animal phyla present.
* Unlike the rainforest, there is no comprehensive global baseline map of living coral reefs. This is urgently needed. A satellite mission dedicated to remote sensing of coral reefs can provide this critical global baseline.

Save The Reef

10 Easy Steps to Help Protect Coral Reefs

Do you want to make a difference every day? Want to learn about simple, effective actions you can take to help save coral reefs and the fish, animals, and plants that depend on them? You've come to the right place!

1. Conserve water: The less water you use, the less runoff and wastewater will pollute our oceans.
2. Help reduce pollution: Walk, bike or ride the bus. Fossil fuel emissions from cars and industry raise lead to ocean warming which causes mass-bleaching of corals and can lead to widespread destruction of reefs.
3. Use only ecological or organic fertilizers: Although you may live thousands of miles from a coral reef ecosystem, these products flow into the water system, pollute the ocean, and can harm coral reefs and marine life.
4. Dispose of your trash properly: Don't leave unwanted fishing lines or nets in the water or on the beach. Any kind of litter pollutes the water and can harm the reef and the fish.
5. Support reef-friendly businesses: Ask the fishing, boating, hotel, aquarium, dive or snorkeling operators how they protect the reef. Be sure they care for the living reef ecosystem and ask if the organization responsible is part of a coral reef ecosystem management effort.
6. Plant a tree: Trees reduce runoff into the oceans. You will also contribute to reversing the warming of our planet and the rising temperatures of our oceans.
7. Practice safe and responsible diving and snorkeling: Do not touch the reef or anchor your boat on the reef. Contact with the coral will damage the delicate coral animals, and anchoring on the reef can kill it, so look for sandy bottom or use moorings if available.
8. Volunteer for a coral reef cleanup: You don't live near a coral reef? Then do what many people do with their vacation: visit a coral reef. Spend an afternoon enjoying the beauty of one of the most diverse ecosystems on the Earth.
9. Contact your government representatives: Demand they take action to protect coral reefs, stop sewage pollution of our oceans, expand marine protected areas and take steps to reverse global warming.
10. Spread the word: Remember your own excitement at learning how important the planet's coral reefs are to us and the intricate global ecosystem. Share this excitement and encourage others to get involved. Send a free coral reef e-card today!

Break-Down of How Corals Grow

Corals use many reproductive strategies, but it now seems that nearly all large, reef building species release millions of gametes once a year, in precisely synchronized mass-spawning rituals. These spectacular displays allow the stationary animals to mix genetically and to disperse offspring over great distances. Such a copious delivery system is also believed to maximize the chances of fertilization, and at the same time overwhelm predators with more food than they can possibly consume. The exact cues triggering the annual phenomenon remain unclear. They are generally believed to be linked to water temperatures as well as the lunar, tidal, and twenty-four hour light cycles.

coral
Releasing Eggs
A few mass-spawners, known as gonochoric species, have separate male and female colonies, and depending on their sex, either release sperm or eggs, which, with luck, will cross fertilize somewhere in the vast water column. Most broadcasters, however, are hermaphrodites (both sexes occurring in each individual coral animal, or polyp). Such polyps once a year package both sperm and eggs into near little pink bundles that are expelled to the caprice of the currents when a biological clock strikes.

coral
Coral Smoking
(Releasing Sperm)
Fertilization, which is possibly aided by sperm attractants, produces planulae larvae that are able to free-swim by day two. Now, in the grasp of tides and currents, the tiny new coral embarks on a grand voyage that can last for months and carry it hundreds of miles from its origin. If the speck of life somehow survives the ever-hungry mouths of plankton-pickers, filter-feeders, and jelly plankton, it will one day mysteriously sense suitable hard substrate below, settle, and begin producing a tiny calcium skeleton – the genesis of a great coral colony that could live for hundreds of years.

Coral Spawning and Cool Info

If you have ever wanted to see how corals spawn, giant Tridacna, and awesome jellyfish from the Caribbean and The Great Barrier Reef, this link some really good information.

By the way, SUPPORT AQUA-CULTURED AND MARI-CULTURED CORAL!!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/animals/invertebrates-animals/other-invertebrates/coralreef_spawning.html

Coral Reefs

Coral reefs

Scientists predict that 70 per cent of the world’s coral reefs may well be destroyed over the next 20-40 years, unless we stop cyanide fishing, pollution, sewage, erosion and clumsy tourism.

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems on our planet, rivalling that of the tropical rainforest. They have been built over thousands of years (some of the oldest reefs began growing about 25 million years ago) by tiny calcium-producing organisms, and are a haven for thousands of life forms. The coral reefs are unique in that living examples from nearly every group of organisms, representing a billion years of evolution, can be found there. In spite of this, we have spent less time exploring the world’s oceans than we have the surface of the moon.

Corals are classified as Cnidaria. They share the class Anthozoa with sea anemones, sea pens and sea pansies. Of the 6,000 known anthozoan species, 2,500 are corals. Corals are found in all oceans of the world, from the tropics to polar regions, to depths of 6,000m (19,700ft).

Reef-building corals are generally found at depths of less than 46m (150ft), where sunlight penetrates. These corals have a symbiotic relationship with algae and need sunlight to grow and thrive. Clear water, where light reaches the algae that promote polyp calcification, speeds growth. Reef-building corals require warm ocean temperatures of 20-28 degrees centigrade.

Warm water flows along the Eastern shores of major land masses and reef development is generally more abundant in areas that are subject to strong wave action. Waves carry nutrients and oxygen to the reef as well as distributing coral larvae and preventing harmful sediments from settling on the reef. Precipitation of calcium from the water is necessary to form a coral polyp’s skeleton. This precipitation occurs when water temperature and salinity are high and carbon dioxide concentrations are low, conditions typical of shallow, warm tropical waters.

Types of coral reef
Fringing reefs - which border the coast closely
Barrier reefs - which are separated from the land by a lagoon
Atolls - which develop at or near the surface of the sea when islands that are surrounded by reefs subside.

Feeding
Reef building corals rely on the photosynthetic products of algae. They also eat zooplankton which they capture with their tentacles and trap in mucus. They feed mostly at night.

Reproduction
Both sexual and asexual - by budding, fragmentation and mass spawning. The resulting zygotes develop into larvae which attach themselves to a suitable substrate. Some species brood their larvae, the sperm fertilises the eggs before they are released and they float to the top, settle and become another colony.

Conservation
Coral reefs cover less than 0.2 per cent of the ocean floor, but contain approximately 25 per cent of the ocean’s species. Almost 5,000 species of reef fish have been identified as well as more than 2,500 species of coral itself, of which almost 1,000 are reef-building. The calcium carbonate from sand, shells and coral maintains the pH balance in the ocean, which in turn maintains life within it.

What corals do for us
Corals provide shore lines with protection by breaking up wave action. They serve as nurseries for growing fish and give food, shelter and protection to a variety of marine species. They supply a protein source to the diets of coastal peoples and provide jobs through fishing and tourism. Corals provide a good source of medicine against a variety of illnesses and give us a wondrous underwater world to study and enjoy.

What we do for corals
In return, we pollute them with sewage, fertilisers and pesticides. We fish them in destructive ways through overfishing, chemicals and use of damaging equipment. We mine them with explosives and they can become smothered by the silt resulting from logging, increasing land use and development. We anchor and ground boats on them, step on them, drag dive gear over them and chop them down for jewelery and coffee table curios.

-BBC-Science & Nature

Wanna See Acropora Grow?

Crecimiento Acropora Species and GIANT table Acros.!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSesUvZ1og0