We are shown
pretty pictures
of coral reefs.
We’re told
coral reefs
are beautiful,
but fragile.
We're told that
oceans could lose
all their coral,
from warming seas.
These predictions
began in the 1960's !
Almost 70 years
hearing that coral
is dying, so I
wonder why there
is so much coral
still alive ?
The latest prediction
for 'the end of coral'
is 2100.
Of course
if we dumped
a lot of pollution
into the sea,
near coral reefs,
they would suffer.
If that happened,
it would probably
be blamed on
climate change !
The History of Corals
Most of the past
435 million years
were warmer than today.
Horn corals were killed
by high heat early in
the Triassic period.
Then “stony” or “hard”
Scleractinia corals
appeared in the Triassic,
perhaps 230 million
years ago.
The "KT boundary"
( a mass extinction
at the end of the
Cretaceous period )
killed off 49 out of 67
Scleractinia genera
corals.
But corals
did well during
the Paleocene-Eocene
Thermal Maximum,
with warm oceans
and rising seas.
From a recent
University of Illinois
study of corals in the
Turks and Caicos,
after a global coral
bleaching event:
“Some corals
appeared
healthier
in 2017
than they were
in 2014.”
The 2014-17
bleaching event
occurred as
record-breaking
sea-surface
temperatures
pushed some corals,
but not all corals,
past their limits.
Coral in hidden canyons
off Australia’s southern
coast had revealed
that the situation
is complex.
The crew of the
research vessel
Falkor learned
that these
underwater canyons
hosted lush gardens
of coral, rich with
marine life.
But each canyon
( especially Leeuwin )
also contained
extensive pockets
of dead and fossilized
coral.
It's not clear yet
what caused those
pockets of dead coral.
But, of course,
we'll be told:
"climate change" !