Calculated Risk has news about a large loss of coral in Caribbean waters":
Calculated Risk: AP: Caribbean Coral Suffers Record Death: Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer reports: Caribbean Coral Suffers Record Death
A one-two punch of bleaching from record hot water followed by disease has killed ancient and delicate coral in the biggest loss of reefs scientists have ever seen in Caribbean waters.
Researchers from around the globe are scrambling to figure out the extent of the loss. Early conservative estimates from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands find that about one-third of the coral in official monitoring sites has recently died.
"It's an unprecedented die-off," said National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Miller, who last week checked 40 stations in the Virgin Islands. "The mortality that we're seeing now is of the extremely slow-growing reef-building corals. These are corals that are the foundation of the reef ... We're talking colonies that were here when Columbus came by have died in the past three to four months."
When we discuss long term economic issues, global warming should be #1. This article shocked me (there is a reason my email address is dive_hike). Best to all.
