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Great Barrier Reef Has Died Five Times In Last 30,000 Years, Study Says (newsweek.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Newsweek: You may well have heard that Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef is dying as warmer and more acidic waters bleach the system's vibrant coral reefs. In fact, a heat wave killed nearly a third of the system's corals in 2016. Now, scientists writing in the journal Nature Geoscience have discovered the reef has bounced back from near-extinction five times in the last 30,000 years. The current stresses, however, are probably far more intense than those felt in the past.
Low sea levels 30,000 and 22,000 years ago killed coral by air exposure. The remaining reef shifted seaward and eventually bounced back. Rising sea levels -- like those we see today -- killed off the coral twice between 13,000 and 17,000 years ago. This time, coral inched close to land to survive. The reef system, the scientists think, migrated up to 60 inches a year in the face of a changing environment. The last of the five great die-offs occurred about 10,000 years ago, and was likely caused by a huge influx of sediment, a reduction in water quality and a general sea level rise. The reef system may be due for another die-off sometime in the next few thousand years "if it follows its past geological pattern," study author Jody Webster told AFP. "But whether human-induced climate change will hasten that death remains to be seen."
Low sea levels 30,000 and 22,000 years ago killed coral by air exposure. The remaining reef shifted seaward and eventually bounced back. Rising sea levels -- like those we see today -- killed off the coral twice between 13,000 and 17,000 years ago. This time, coral inched close to land to survive. The reef system, the scientists think, migrated up to 60 inches a year in the face of a changing environment. The last of the five great die-offs occurred about 10,000 years ago, and was likely caused by a huge influx of sediment, a reduction in water quality and a general sea level rise. The reef system may be due for another die-off sometime in the next few thousand years "if it follows its past geological pattern," study author Jody Webster told AFP. "But whether human-induced climate change will hasten that death remains to be seen."
for half a billion years.
They have had worse.
Except when it doesn't.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
All of these chicken littles view these changes in nature as if they are happening in a vacuum.
Nature is like a beanbag. Push here and it pops out there. One change spawns another change. Nothing is static and nature isn't in a vacuum.
Tell that to the Mammoths, Dinosaurs, and the obligate anaerobes that predated cyanobacteria.
Just because a system is resilient doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want to it and come out fine.
I stole this Sig
We show that reefs migrated seaward as sea level fell to its lowest level during the most recent glaciation (~20.5–20.7 thousand years ago (ka)), then landward as the shelf flooded and ocean temperatures increased during the subsequent deglacial period (~20–10ka).
They didn't just look at where the reef is now, but where it has been in the past. It has an ability to migrate at 0.2-1.5m/year. The reef is older, but it wasn't always in the same place. Source
Push the beanbag of coral reefs and the ecosystem that provides humans with fisheries pops. Push the fisheries and populations of SE Asia will pop across borders en masse, as they are faced with serious threat of poverty and famine. This all leads to suffering and conflict that did not need to happen.
Call me chicken little all you like, I still think that politics is about exercising power AND ethics, not just observing and passively waiting for the next equilibrium.
All of these chicken littles view these changes in nature as if they are happening in a vacuum.
Nature is like a beanbag. Push here and it pops out there. One change spawns another change. Nothing is static and nature isn't in a vacuum.
Tell that to the Mammoths, Dinosaurs, and the obligate anaerobes that predated cyanobacteria.
Just because a system is resilient doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want to it and come out fine.
Mammoths turned into elephants. Dinosaurs turned into birds. Etc.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
I take it to mean that the loss that the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing is not as great a threat (at the present moment) as some portray it.
We don't know that. Just because it has suffered before, and recovered, doesn't say much about current threat. It could be worse this time.
That is, the best solution can be found and applied instead of a stop-gap or knee-jerk remedy.
We already know the best solution, but we don't want to apply it.
Mammoths turned into elephants. Dinosaurs turned into birds. Etc.
That's not how evolution works.
This is all fear mongering. There are reefs in the world with water FAR hotter than the great barrier reef. Despite what researchers who benefit from government funding would like you to believe, there is far from agreement that the reef is in any way in trouble.
If that's fearmongering then your post is stupidmongering.
Yes there are warmer reefs elsewhere. That doesn't mean you can magically transform the great barrier reef into a hot water reef without it first crashing badly and for a long time, and losing the huge diversity that's present there now.
I like how you layer it on with a nice chunk of anti-research and anti-government paranoia. Though it's kind of entertaining that you thing researchers do it for the money.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
If things swing back the other way dead corals will bounce back within a year or two.
Now specific man-made problems such as silting, runoff, fishing, recreational diving, and anchor dragging and kill off corals in an area and should be addressed as solvable solutions. Trying fight climate change well that is just pissing into the wind. Even without the so called global warming caused by mankind the reefs were going to die off and relocated anyway.
There are reefs in the world with water FAR hotter than the great barrier reef.
Yes there are and they adapted to their environment over a very long time. Thanks for pointing out you don't actually know much about the topic or the reason why the problem exists.
Despite what researchers who benefit from government funding would like you to believe
There is no shortage of government or private funding for researchers in a myriad of topics both for and against every topic. If you think because the government provided funding for research that researchers are somehow biased to producing results requiring a small fortune of government spending and mass change in behav.... wait, that's anti-bias. What was your point here? That the results are the opposite of the expected funding source and therefore should be taken extra serious because researchers are all corrupt and biased?
there is far from agreement that the reef is in any way in trouble
Yeah I know. It's just a manufactured idea from China. Just as manufactured as the idea that you are not a complete moron.
They had sensible C02 emission laws 30,000 years ago!
Earth is a single point of failure.
Apparently, the current anthropogenic sea rise is indistinguishable from noise. That would mean it would be normal occurrence, regardless of what we believe...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!