Marine & wildlife NEWS - November 2010

Red Sea Coral killed off by Global warming

Diploastrea heliopora, commonly referred to as Double-Star coral, found in the Red Sea is being killed off by global warning, according a marine study. This particular species is also harvested for the aquarium trade (IUCN). It is found usually between depths of 3 to 5 m in the sea.

‘The warming in the Red Sea and the resultant decline in the health of this coral is a clear regional impact of global warming,' said Neal E. Cantin, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution postdoctoral investigator and co-lead researcher on the investigating team. In the 1980s, he said, ‘the average summer [water] temperatures were below 30 degrees Celsius. In 2008 they were approaching 31 degrees'.

The scientists, who used CT scans to assess the skeletal health of the coral, suggest that the coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

Researchers scanned six skeletal cores of Diploastrea heliopora and were able to pinpoint two high-density growth bands, indicating high thermal stress in 1998 and 2001.

‘When the corals are thermally stressed, they lose algae and many will eventually starve and die. When corals lose enough algae, they actually turn white, and that's what bleaching is. We think these corals are on their way to bleaching,' states Anne L. Cohen, co-lead investigator.

Conventional studies have used X-rays to identify problems. However, using the CT-scan technique it has enabled early detection of the problem in a less invasive manner. ‘The corals look healthy, but looking inside at the skeleton gives you an idea of things to come,' she said. ‘It's like osteoporosis. You look at a person and, on the outside, everything seems fine, but inside there are signs of trouble.'

Diploastrea heliopora is Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List and listed on Appendix II of CITES.

Sources
http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=207417
http://www.sealifebase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=46689
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/133231/0
Other sources

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