Coral reefs in decline: has it happened before?
Coral reefs around the world are in decline. The reefs are home to many living creatures, such as this blue starfish, which resides on this acropora coral. Photo: Richard Ling
Coral reefs around the world are in decline, and scientists want to know why. One way to do that is by looking at the history of reef growth.
And Rich Aronson did just that by taking core samples which contained thousands of years of data on coral reefs. Dr. Aronson is Senior Marine Scientist of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. Earth & Sky’s Jorge Salazar spoke with him at the 2007 meeting of the Ecological Society of America in San Jose, California.
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Regardless of whether it’s happened before or not, people are ruining the earths natural habitats on a daily basis like coral reefs. I’m no tree hugger, and I don’t have feelings for animals, but I know for a fact, just as well as anyone else with any common sense, that we are ruining the earth every day. Not with carbon foot prints. Global warming is just bad for us. If the world over heats, and the has an ice age or whatever, that just means we’re all doomed, but oh well, hey if you can make a buck now, who cares about tomorrow?