cretinbob: BunkyBrewman: It's primarily *because* of humans.

Most of this seaweed is found closer to shores where runoff, pollutants and nutrients are much higher. The seaweed thrives on this and grows considerably, killing of delicate coral.

Don't for get that the water temperatures are rising too

and killing parrot fish, that eat seaweed.

stuhayes2010: cretinbob: BunkyBrewman: It's primarily *because* of humans.

Most of this seaweed is found closer to shores where runoff, pollutants and nutrients are much higher. The seaweed thrives on this and grows considerably, killing of delicate coral.

Don't for get that the water temperatures are rising too

and killing parrot fish, that eat seaweed.

Also, the water level is rising, changing the amount of light they receive.

A curious game. The only winning move is not to play.

/Never go all in against Nature. She will not fold, and her hand will be better in the end.

You can eat seaweed, but you can't eat coral. win-win

It's simple. We release hordes of seals to eat the seaweed.

stuhayes2010: and killing parrot fish, that eat seaweed.

Don't parrot fish also eat coral?

But yeah, stop overfishing. A similar thing happened when people hunted sea otters to near extinction in some areas. The lack of predation caused an explosion in the population of sea urchins, and the urchins destroyed the kelp forests along with their associated ecosystem. The result is known as an "urchin barren".

cretinbob: Don't for get that the water temperatures are rising too

Even without its effect on the temperature, increased atmospheric CO2 results in increased ocean acidity which is a bad thing for any creatures that make shells out of calcium carbonate.

Captain Nemo has the answer. Tastes just like steak and vegetables!

cgraves67: You can eat seaweed, but you can't eat coral. win-win

Chances are, if it's toxic to coral, it's no good to us.

Grapple: We should arm the coral so they can defend themselves.

Coral contains some of the most deadly toxins found in nature. In fact, one particular nasty toxin, known as palytoxin, is 100 times more lethal than Tetradotoxin (Blue Ring Octopus)

Ahh... this will be the glorious end to mankind. We will kill off the very origin of life on this planet with the accumulation of chemicals used to make our lawns pretty.

A cover of something should reduce the light so the kelp will go away.
How about a nice sheen of oil?

/and it will create jobs, yea!

Solution:

Eat more sushi!

The coral reefs around the world are threatened, and not just from algae. If you would like to help make a difference you can donate to the Coral Reef Alliance. http://www.coral.org/

/Avid SCUBA Diver
//Take only pictures and leave only bubbles.
///Look, don't touch.

When the coral reefs are gone, I'll cling more tightly to my Christmas reef.

/your move, grammar notsees

As a coral reef biologist, I'm really getting a kick out of this paper etc, know the authors, etc.

CSB time:

Our lab has been monitoring the same reef sites in the Florida Keys for 15+ years and has documented a long, slow decline in coral condition. In January 2010 a cold front came through where the near-shore water dropped from its usual winter minimum of about 70F to 52F for a few days. Air temp got down to 32F overnight in Key Largo. This same front brought front-page Fark stories about iguanas dropping out of trees, I believe. Anyway, it took a couple of our reefs from this (summer picture, live coral):



To this (1 month after cold snap):



That's all dead coral skeleton covered in algae. Most of the coral species at the shallow sites (20ft) survived as the water didn't get as cold.The dead, dominant corals, like the one in the photo, were 250+ years old. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.

That said, eutrophication from run-off is worse. For comparison, the reefs at Bikini Atoll and Enawetok Atoll where they dropped hydrogen bombs are in great shape, but the reefs of the Caribbean, the cesspool of the Americas, are dying out. A coral reef can survive atomic weapons better than it can human beings shiatting on them for decades.

LockeOak: As a coral reef biologist, I'm really getting a kick out of this paper etc, know the authors, etc.

That's all dead coral skeleton covered in algae. Most of the coral species at the deeper sites (20ft) survived as the water didn't get as cold.The dead, dominant corals, like the one in the photo, were 250+ years old. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.

Dammit, FTFM

LockeOak: Anyway, it took a couple of our reefs from this (summer picture, live coral):

Hi: My wife got her MS from FIU and did her field work in reef restoration technique at Mote, back when it was located on Pigeon Key, in 1999.

I got my C-card in 1991, at Key Largo.

I returned to the Keys frequently while she was a student, and did a lot volunteer work with her lab. The damage to the reefs just from when I was certified to then, not even a decade, was distressing. Pennecamp was practically a wasteland.

Anyhow, enough of my bona fides.

I'm interested in the sea fan in your photo. It appears to be remarkably free of Aspergillis, which was rampant at the time I was in Florida. Is that problem resolving? Has there been an improvement in water treatment or something?

I know that the MPA designation has helped tremendously. When we were down there, there were lawns signs everywhere advocating shooting anyone from NOAA. Wonder what the attitude is like these days...

jehovahs witness protection:
So, global warming is a good thing?

Extreme climatic events, which increase in frequency due to anthropogenic forces, are a bad thing.

This is horrible. We must OCCUPY THE OCEAN!

Our move? If I had a guess it'd be to stop causing "the slow death of the invertebrates due to pollution, climate change, or other factors".

Methinks Subby has trouble reading the body of an article and just relies on headlines for his trolling.

0.02/10

Deucednuisance:

I'm interested in the sea fan in your photo. It appears to be remarkably free of Aspergillis, which was rampant at the time I was in Florida. Is that problem resolving? Has there been an improvement in water treatment or something?

I know that the MPA designation has helped tremendously. When we were down there, there were lawns signs everywhere advocating shooting anyone from NOAA. Wonder what the attitude is like these days...

Well, almost all the sea fans at those cold-hit sites are dead, so I guess that's resolved. I don't know much about Aspergillis infections, but a group I work with occasionally is working on Serratia marscesens infections of Acropora palmata. It causes recurrent, occasionally lethal tissue legions and is of the same genotype found in human sewage.

Speaking of sewage, all of the Keys are moving towards sewer systems, rather than the old leaky septic tanks. The system just came online in the past year for Key Largo and Tavernier, I'm not sure how far down that system goes. Islamorada and Marathon will likely have one soon too, Key West has had one for a long time. Hopefully that will help, but it may be too late. My experience is everyone has adapted to the MPA system and most businesses (tourism, dive, snorkel, sport fishing, lobstering, etc) do well, although the weak economy and high gas prices have been a problem the last couple of years.

One way to get rid of it . . .

discgolfguru: Satanic_Hamster: It's simple. We release hordes of seals to eat the seaweed.

Ah crap... we're gonna need a lot of Killer Whales, aren't we?

scottydoesntknow: Satanic_Hamster: It's simple. We release hordes of seals to eat the seaweed.

And when the seals are out of control we just release the scuba-diving gorillas

[www.johnnysupersonic.com image 600x450]

And then sharks to deal with the gorillas and killer whales.

What killer seaweed may look like,,,

Clearly we should dump millions of tons of herbicide into the oceans to kill all teh algae and give the corals a chance.

Grapple: We should arm the coral so they can defend themselves.

mavexe: Coral contains some of the most deadly toxins found in nature. In fact, one particular nasty toxin, known as palytoxin, is 100 times more lethal than Tetradotoxin (Blue Ring Octopus)

Grapple: I was thinking more like little AK-47's =^__^=

That's just silly. What would a Blue Ring Octopus do with a little AK-47?

Maybe if we just stop taking pictures and keeping record the world will be a happier place.

/Why let reality get in the way of happiness?