Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Global Warming Could Kill Coral Reefs by 2050.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-12-13-coral-reefs_N.htm

Scientists predict that the ocean coral reefs could be dead by the year 2050. Burning fossil fuels add carbon dioxide to the air and that carbon dioxide is absorbed by ocean water. When the carbon dioxide enters the ocean, it makes the water more acidic and in turn makes the coral die because they can no longer calcify their skeletons. This issue is significant because coral reefs provide hatcheries and habitats for many fish. They also serve to protect coasts from tropical storms. Our only hope for coral reefs is to slow the burning of fossil fuels and to halt the release of carbon dioxide into the atmoshphere.

2 comments:

  1. This deeply saddens me Levi. Its sad that people will only be able to look at reefs in books and never be able to dive on them in real life. But there is nothing we can do about the killing of the reefs.

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