95% of Great Barrier Reef, norther section, bleached

[Wyatt earp]

"The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae."

We need to leave the earth alone to get its "health" back

I am doing my part, I just flushed an aspirin down the toilet





.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

They need to build more windmills, to blow the extra CO2 away from the reef.
That should also help cool the water. With all the extra evaporation.
Of course the extra water vapor will only raise the temperature of the planet.

I guess we'll never get the climate to stop changing.

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet? Get a job you hippy. Humans have no impact on anything. We'll be raptured soon anyways.

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet?

Yeah, it's one of those greenhouse gasses that will melt the planet and kill us all.

Humans have no impact on anything.

It's not humans, it's the sun and the ocean. Trying to kill us.
The only hope we have is more windmills.

Windmills? You hippy. Humans can't impact anything. Whatever happens is Gawd's will.

Windmills won't save us? Then why do liberals want to waste money building them?

What're you playing at you RINO hippy pussy? Are you tryna act like anything other than JESUS can save us?!

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

They need to build more windmills, to blow the extra CO2 away from the reef.
That should also help cool the water. With all the extra evaporation.
Of course the extra water vapor will only raise the temperature of the planet.

I guess we'll never get the climate to stop changing.

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet? Get a job you hippy. Humans have no impact on anything. We'll be raptured soon anyways.

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet?

Yeah, it's one of those greenhouse gasses that will melt the planet and kill us all.

Humans have no impact on anything.

It's not humans, it's the sun and the ocean. Trying to kill us.
The only hope we have is more windmills.

Windmills? You hippy. Humans can't impact anything. Whatever happens is Gawd's will.

Windmills won't save us? Then why do liberals want to waste money building them?

What're you playing at you RINO hippy pussy? Are you tryna act like anything other than JESUS can save us?!

Liberal windmills won't save us? But 97% of 77 scientists agreed..........

 

[TheOldSchool]

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet? Get a job you hippy. Humans have no impact on anything. We'll be raptured soon anyways.

Extra water vapor will raise the temperature of the planet?

Yeah, it's one of those greenhouse gasses that will melt the planet and kill us all.

Humans have no impact on anything.

It's not humans, it's the sun and the ocean. Trying to kill us.
The only hope we have is more windmills.

Windmills? You hippy. Humans can't impact anything. Whatever happens is Gawd's will.

Windmills won't save us? Then why do liberals want to waste money building them?

What're you playing at you RINO hippy pussy? Are you tryna act like anything other than JESUS can save us?!

Liberal windmills won't save us? But 97% of 77 scientists agreed..........

 

[RollingThunder]

Very interesting to watch the denier cult trolls rush in and try to derail the thread topic on every thread that talks about the scientific facts concerning the often disastrous changes that are starting to happen, faster and faster, to our world as a result of the scientifically confirmed, accelerating, human caused global warming and its consequent climate changes.

This thread is a classic example of their efforts and success in taking the debate way off-topic from the information about the increasing pace of coral bleaching and die-offs that was brought up in the OP, and derailing the OP topic into random irrelevant nonsense.

This is all quite deliberate on the denier cultists' part, and is one of the fossil fuel industry stooges's favorite tactics in their attacks on science and on any straight, honest information about the climate change crisis the world is facing.

Watch for it and call them on it every time one of the trolls takes the debate way off the actual topic of the thread. They hate when you point this stuff out and expose their deceits.

 

[jc456]

Hey Jesus is coming soon so the world doesn't matter and whatever struggles the planet or its people face are irrelevant. Earthly matters are not that important and we should be prioritizing our eternity in the afterlife instead. Vote Republican. Fuck the Earth, if we hate the right things and don't care about the planet we'll be rewarded with eternal gifts.

These same people want to ban abortion and stop providing birth control to the masses as if they want the population to increase not decrease.

I hope poor people have no kids or fewer. I hope middle class people have fewer kids. I hope poor Indians Africans and Arabs stop having so many kids. We are a parasite on this planet. The Pacific ocean is a toilet bowl.

you are against life as we all knew.

 

[RollingThunder]

Hey Jesus is coming soon so the world doesn't matter and whatever struggles the planet or its people face are irrelevant. Earthly matters are not that important and we should be prioritizing our eternity in the afterlife instead. Vote Republican. Fuck the Earth, if we hate the right things and don't care about the planet we'll be rewarded with eternal gifts.

These same people want to ban abortion and stop providing birth control to the masses as if they want the population to increase not decrease.

I hope poor people have no kids or fewer. I hope middle class people have fewer kids. I hope poor Indians Africans and Arabs stop having so many kids. We are a parasite on this planet. The Pacific ocean is a toilet bowl.

you are against life as we all knew.

You are quite insane, as we all have known since you started posting your fraudulent demented drivel on this forum.

 

[jc456]

Hey Jesus is coming soon so the world doesn't matter and whatever struggles the planet or its people face are irrelevant. Earthly matters are not that important and we should be prioritizing our eternity in the afterlife instead. Vote Republican. Fuck the Earth, if we hate the right things and don't care about the planet we'll be rewarded with eternal gifts.

These same people want to ban abortion and stop providing birth control to the masses as if they want the population to increase not decrease.

I hope poor people have no kids or fewer. I hope middle class people have fewer kids. I hope poor Indians Africans and Arabs stop having so many kids. We are a parasite on this planet. The Pacific ocean is a toilet bowl.

you are against life as we all knew.

You are quite insane, as we all have known since you started posting your fraudulent demented drivel on this forum.

I merely speak the truth. You obviously can't handle the truth. Jack was right.

 

[RollingThunder]

Hey Jesus is coming soon so the world doesn't matter and whatever struggles the planet or its people face are irrelevant. Earthly matters are not that important and we should be prioritizing our eternity in the afterlife instead. Vote Republican. Fuck the Earth, if we hate the right things and don't care about the planet we'll be rewarded with eternal gifts.

These same people want to ban abortion and stop providing birth control to the masses as if they want the population to increase not decrease.

I hope poor people have no kids or fewer. I hope middle class people have fewer kids. I hope poor Indians Africans and Arabs stop having so many kids. We are a parasite on this planet. The Pacific ocean is a toilet bowl.

you are against life as we all knew.

You are quite insane, as we all have known since you started posting your fraudulent demented drivel on this forum.

I merely speak the truth.

And THERE, JustCrazy, is about the most insane, most delusional, most fraudulent thing you have ever said!

 

[rdean]

Republicans think that's great. They really like "white".

 

[bripat9643]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

Our CO2 is magic.

 

[bodecea]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

They don't care.

 

[RollingThunder]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

ROTFLMFAO......oh, bripated, you are so hilarious! No shit!

Coral bleaching and die-off is an OBSERVED EVENT, numbnuts, happening right now all around the world.

For you to point at something that somebody somewhere told you happened "100 million years ago", without them mentioning that the reason the Earth didn't burn up back then was because the sun was somewhat dimmer at that point in time, and then question whether that supposed event somehow means that the current bleaching isn't really happening is a great example of the reality denying insanity of your crackpot cult of reality denial. It is an observed event, moron!

In the real world....

Scientists: Caribbean coral die-off may be worst ever, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean bleaching “may prove to be the worst such event known to science."

 

[The Great Goose]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

It probably did.

 

[bripat9643]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

ROTFLMFAO......oh, bripated, you are so hilarious! No shit!

Coral bleaching and die-off is an OBSERVED EVENT, numbnuts, happening right now all around the world.

For you to point at something that somebody somewhere told you happened "100 million years ago", without them mentioning that the reason the Earth didn't burn up back then was because the sun was somewhat dimmer at that point in time, and then question whether that supposed event somehow means that the current bleaching isn't really happening is a great example of the reality denying insanity of your crackpot cult of reality denial. It is an observed event, moron!

In the real world....

Scientists: Caribbean coral die-off may be worst ever, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean bleaching “may prove to be the worst such event known to science."

You are a true marvel of lies and stupidity. The Sun was not dimmer then. In fact the earth was closer to the sun then, and the average temperature on the Earth was something like 14 degrees warmer than it is now.

In addition, I never claimed the earth didn't burn up. The coral bleaching phenomena supposedly has nothing to do with temperature. It supposedly has to do with the atmospheric concentration of CO2. The AGW cult is trying to claim that a concentration of 400 ppm will kill coral. Meanwhile the historical example shows that concentrations five times that high didn't kill the corals. In fact, the corals thrived under those concentrations.

You tried to change the subject to the temperature, but even that proves your theory is bullshit. The graph below shows that for most of the history of life the concentration of CO2 was fare higher than it is now, with no ill effects to life on the planet. That includes corals. The temperature has also been far warmer than it is now, and life absolutely thrived under those conditions.

 

[bripat9643]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

It probably did.

Then how did it survive until the present day? The fact is that coral thrived during the Mesozoic, and temperatures were about 15 degrees warming then, and CO2 concentrations were 5 times higher.

 

[depotoo]

https://northernbeachesnews.net/2016/03/27/bleaching-not-a-death-sentence-for-great-barrier-reef/
...The current coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef has attracted major media coverage and attention from senior political leaders.
But Dr David Wachenfeld, the Director for Reef Recovery at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says coral’s ability to recover from bleaching is being left out of the discussion...

was this mentioned?

 

[Old Rocks]

Resistance and Resilience to Coral Bleaching: Implications for Coral Reef Conservation and Management - West - 2003 - Conservation Biology - Wiley Online Library

Abstract: The massive scale of the 1997–1998 El Niño–associated coral bleaching event underscores the need for strategies to mitigate biodiversity losses resulting from temperature-induced coral mortality. As baseline sea surface temperatures continue to rise, climate change may represent the single greatest threat to coral reefs worldwide. In response, one strategy might be to identify ( 1 ) specific reef areas where natural environmental conditions are likely to result in low or negligible temperature-related bleaching and mortality ( i.e., areas of natural “resistance” to bleaching ) and ( 2 ) reef areas where environmental conditions are likely to result in maximum recovery of reef communities after bleaching mortality has occurred ( i.e., areas of natural community “resilience” ). These “target areas,” where environmental conditions appear to boost resistance and resilience during and after large-scale bleaching events, could then be incorporated into strategic networks of marine protected areas designed to maximize conservation of global coral reef biodiversity. Based on evidence from the literature and systematically compiled observations from researchers in the field, this paper identifies likely environmental correlates of resistance and resilience to coral bleaching, including factors that reduce temperature stress, enhance water movement, decrease light stress, correlate with physiological tolerance, and provide physical or biological enhancement of recovery potential. As a tool for identifying reef areas that are likely to be most robust in the face of continuing climate change and for determining priority areas for reducing direct anthropogenic impacts, this information has important implications for coral reef conservation and management.

Yes, there are some areas where the coral is resistant, and resilient areas, as well. And then there are areas where the coral just plain dies. This is a plan to begin to identify which areas are which, and preserve those areas most likely to survive.

 

[The Great Goose]

Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching hits "extreme level"

• Email

Bleached staghorn coral with damselfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

J.RUMMER/ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
Coral bleaching -- a phenomenon that can result in the widespread die-off of coral life -- is a serious problem facing the world's oceans, and according to a new aerial survey of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, 95 percent of the reef's northern section is now bleached, Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The aerial survey, conducted by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, came after researchers found unprecedented levels of bleaching from extensive underwater studies of the reef.

One of the researchers, Jodie Rummer, returned from more than a month spent at the Lizard Island Research Station in the northern part of the reef and said she was shocked by what she saw.


26 PHOTOS
The deteriorating Great Barrier Reef
"I witnessed a sight underwater that no marine biologist, and no person with a love and appreciation for the natural world for that matter, wants to see," Rummer said in a university press release.

She had been conducting research on the island since January 2012.

"The bleaching now is not just restricted to the hard corals," she said. "There's also extensive bleaching in the soft corals, and it is also affecting anemones and giant clams."

What exactly is coral bleaching? It occurs when unusual environmental conditions, like increased sea temperatures, result in corals expelling small photosynthetic algae -- zooxanthellae -- which normally provide oxygen and nutrients. The loss leaves the corals to turn white. The corals are able to recover if temperatures drop and the structures can then be re-settled by zooxanthellae. But otherwise the corals will die.

It is one of the more visible, worrying results of climate change on the world's oceans.

Terry Hughes, who led the study, told the broadcasting company "it is too early" to determine how many of the bleached corals observed in the aerial survey will die, but he didn't sound optimistic.

"Judging from the extreme level even the most robust corals are snow white," he said. "I'd expect to see about half of those corals die in the coming month or so."

Why didn't the coral all die off 100 million years ago when CO2 was at 2000 ppm?

It probably did.

Then how did it survive until the present day? The fact is that coral thrived during the Mesozoic, and temperatures were about 15 degrees warming then, and CO2 concentrations were 5 times higher.

Maybe a little bitsurvived and replenished?