Saturday, February 4, 2017

Global warming could result in large areas of the Great Barrier Reef being poisoned by algae by 2050, study warns

Researchers have found that algae "grass-like" kill the corals of the Great Barrier Reef because of an increased level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.


The study found that if the world keeps emitting carbon dioxide at the same speed as the case now, the coral reefs of buildings significantly suffers 2050 and 2100 years dead.

Researchers know that increased carbon dioxide has an effect on the behaviour of seaweed but does not explain how this happened until now.

The research, based on the Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, found that algae killing corals through powerful toxins in their compound.

Professor Guillermo Diaz-Pulido from Griffiths school environment and co-author of the study said: "this is a major step forward in understanding how Pliers may damage the reef and it is very important to understand the consequences of increased CO2 emissions on the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

For the algae to grow they need light and CO2 as other plants, and because of the algae in the future will face more CO2 in the sea water, we want to know the extent to which CO2 will influence some of the things algae do, Physiology and interaction with animals.

The research, conducted at the Heron Iceland at the southern end of the reef, used underwater experiments and laboratory experiments.


Researchers tested samples of the algae in the laboratory to observe the effects of carbon dioxide have algae.

The samples were exposed to two levels of algae carbon dioxide: ambient and high, with approximately reflect the current rate and a high level of projected 2100 below reflect the model of the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change.

A research report published in the journal Science found that higher levels of carbon dioxide make compounds produced by algae is stronger and some species of algae produce more of these toxic chemicals than others.

Professor Mark Hay, a Professor of environmental science and technology at the Georgia
Institute of Technology and co-author of the study said: "what we found is that some algae produce more powerful chemicals that suppress or kill corals faster.


' This can happen quickly, in a matter of weeks.

"If algae following the coral we have problems, which contribute to coral reef degradation, in addition to what we already know with corals whitening, Crown of thorns Starfish outbreaks, Cyclones or other nuisance."

Professor Diaz-Pulido said that research has global consequences, too, because one of the types of seaweed they studied, which causes the most damage are the Brown algae commonly found on coral reefs in the world.

This is a problem because if these algae taking advantage of the increase in CO2 in the sea water, there are much more reasons for concern, ' said Professor Diaz-Pulido.

The scale of the problem is so big to remove piles of seaweed from the reef won't do much, because it just regrows and regenerates, so I think the way to solve this problem is to actually reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
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