Coral Reef Ecosystem under Changing Climatic Condition
Aanoor Dhayalan, S.
Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu (641 003), India
E. Parameswari*
Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu (641 003), India
DOI: NIL
Keywords: Bleaching, Coral reefs, Ocean acidification, Zooxanthellae
Abstract
Human activities such as the usage of fossil energy, destruction of forests, and change in land use and has dramatically altered the intensity of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as methane and carbon dioxide. These changes have resulted in global warming and ocean acidification, and both of which imply significant threats to reef ecosystems due to rising thermal stress and acidification of the oceans, in addition to decreasing carbonate ion concentrations. On coral reefs, there has been increased mass coral bleaching, decreasing calcification rates, and a wide range of other changes to subtle but important ecological and physiological processes. However, limiting the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, while also reducing local stresses such as illegal fishing and decreasing water quality, provides significant chance for avoiding this grim outlook for coral reefs. Given the significance of corals to the living standards of millions of individuals, such actions should be pursued as soon as possible.
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Reference
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