Until this morning, when I viewed a 5-second film clip of a coral growing as tall as the Empire State Building on a national network television "Today" news broadcast, I thought that Global Warming is causing ocean waters to get too hot, as evidenced in the destruction of major coral reefs, which have already turned white, and presumably died, because of higher temperatures caused by Global Warming. Does this finding of an exceptionally tall coral formation indicate a different or new species of coral? Or is this thriving coral evidence of a positive result from the increased levels of carbon in Earth's atmosphere, or from some other factor that is not related to Global Warming? For more information, please see the Internet: " Standing taller than the Empire State Building’s 443 metres, the reef rises up to 40 metres deep. Research leader Robin Beaman, from James Cook University (JCU), described the pinnacle of the reef as a ‘thriving coral community.’ "
Due to weather changes life thrives in some parts of the sea, but suffers in others.
Hi Nancy,
We have to be very careful with making inferences about climate change and reef health based on 'single' observations such as this. There are so many factors at play that can influence reef health at this site compared to the main Great Barrier Reef, for example. The pinnacle of the newly found reef might be a thriving community, but are the coral species here the same as those found on the main barrier reef? Some corals are far more tolerant of temperature change than others, and it may be that corals on the new reef are simply different species. In addition, the reef pinnacle sits at 40m below the sea surface in an offshore (deep water) environment and at this depth even a scuba diver can sense the temperature difference between the surface water 0 - 10m and cooler water at 40 m. There is likely to be a lot more vertical water mixing in this offshore environment and so even if the surface temperature increases, water mixing will cool the upper layers and prevent the sort of heat stress that corals cannot tolerate. Compare this to the much shallower environment of the main barrier reef and it may also explain why the new reef seems healthier in comparison.
What we need to do is wait for the formal identifcation of the component species in the new reef and take it from there in terms of making comparisons with other reef areas.
Hope this helps.
Aleks
Aleksandra Maljković ,
I thank you very much for sharing your expertise as a scientific researcher and I am pleased to answer your question regarding the thriving coral reef. You are absolutely right in asking if this healthy coral reef is "of a different species"! It has been steadily growing upward, and has the shape almost of a gigantic cactus, while, in striking contrast, the main barrier reef that is losing its characteristic color covers the sea floor horizontally. I do not know if its flat configuration is the same as it was when it was healthy, but it is clear that it was never as tall as the adjacent coral reef that is still growing in its midst. Your mentioning of the temperature in this particular environment certainly appears to be a strong factor in the new reef's ability to survive even when water temperature is rising. Although it seems to be a remote possibility, I wonder if the new reef might be an example of Darwin's theory of adaptation. Maybe an "offspring" of the old reef underwent a genetic adaptation to the heat stress, which caused it to avoid the heat stress caused by rising water temperatures by growing vertically, more like a cactus in the desert might grow upward to counteract the hot ground at night and process stout and sturdy vertical growth via photosynthesis activated during the daytime. Your comment about the sensitivity of coral reefs to even a small rise in water temperature may help to explain why the new coral grows in extraordinary spurts upward without taking time to be stout and sturdy like the cactus typically does. The precipitous snake-like shooting upward growth suggests almost an emotional response, one of fear followed by flight, in the old and dying coral reef, which generated a new species by altering the deoxyribonucleic acid code, which succeeded on a small scale for some of the molecular matter contained in the old coral reef. Thus, can a coral reef species regenerate some cells that are not typically differentiated, like in humans that may propagate offspring with different hair and eye colors, but, because of the heat stress, genetically adapt by generating a slightly altered, hence new species of coral reef that is coded to organize propagation of cellular growth vertically up into the air, instead of growing laterally and remaining submerged in the life-threatening hot water?
Furthermore, if this pattern that I am trying to articulate is possible, might this coral reef genetic modification example, if it is hypothetically possible, also be consistent with the idea that birds evolved from fishes that adapted to their environmental changes by metamorphosing their fins into wings, which permitted them to vacate adverse conditions in their water habitat and to survive in the form of birds empowered to take flight and inhabit the air?
Thank you for your patience, and, I hope, your comprehension.
Best regards and wishes.