Word: corale
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Across the globe, from the Gulf of Mexico to the South China Sea, people are killing coral reefs. Cyanide fishing, harbor dredging, coral mining, deforestation, coastal development, agricultural runoff, shipwrecks and careless divers are putting so much pressure on these extraordinary ecosystems that they may not survive beyond the next century. "You can never point to one thing and say it's this that's killing the reefs," Wilkinson observes, "because in reality it's almost everything...
...Coral reefs are more than beautiful structures admired by snorkelers and scuba divers. Their stony ramparts serve as storm barriers that protect shorelines and provide ships with safe harbor. Their nooks and crannies accommodate fish and shellfish that are important sources of food and livelihood for millions of people. And like the tropical forests to which they are frequently compared, reefs are repositories of vast biological wealth as yet untapped for medicinal and industrial uses...
...rouse public concern, marine scientists and environmental activists have proclaimed 1997 the International Year of the Reef. They have persuaded the U.S. and other major countries to support a conservation offensive called the International Coral Reef Initiative. And perhaps most important, they have launched an ambitious project called the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, which will conduct the first surveys of the earth's estimated 400,000 sq. mi. of reef, including remote atolls no scientist has ever seen...
...underwater structures at the center of this concern are, in fact, built by live animals. Corals--fingertip- to hand-size creatures that stick together to form large colonies--use the carbon and calcium in seawater to build their hard, exterior skeletons. Over time, the stony material accumulates, giving colonies of coral their signature shapes. Some corals, for example, form big round heads that resemble a giant cauliflower, while others assume elongate shapes reminiscent of skyscrapers. As impressive as cities, mature reefs may be thousands of years old, extend for hundreds of miles and shelter thousands upon thousands of species--making...
...seaweed is always threatening to engulf the reefs, but it is usually kept in check by grazing fish. About a decade ago, a team of marine scientists conducted an experiment off the coast of Belize that proves this point. To keep fish out, the researchers surrounded a section of coral the size of a small pasture with a chicken-wire fence. Within 10 weeks, they found, the area inside the fence had been completely overgrown by seaweed and many of the corals had died...