Thursday, January 22, 2015

Can Underwater Parks Protect Coral? - Video

With global threats like ocean warming and acidification, it's a tough time to be a coral. Marine scientists John Bruno and Elizabeth Selig, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, analyzed over 8,000 coral surveys from all over the world to see if local management through Marine Protected Areas had any positive effect on coral.

Corals make their skeletons out of calcium and carbonate ions from seawater, constructing massive colonies as large as cars and small houses. As the ocean absorbs excess carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning, it spurs chemical reactions that lower the pH of seawater, a process known as ocean acidification. The process removes carbonate ions, making them less available for corals to build skeletons.

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