Atmospheric Aerosols Can Harm Coral Reef Growth Rates
April 8, 2013
Fine particles in the air resulting from burning coal or volcanic eruptions can negatively affect coral growth, a team of climate scientists and coral ecologists from the UK, Australia and Panama has discovered.
The study, which appears in this weeks edition of the journal Nature Geoscience, found that coral reefs respond to changes in the concentration of atmospheric pollution. Those particulates can shade the corals from sunlight and cause the water surrounding them to cool, thus leading to reduced growth rates, the researchers said.
Coral reefs are the most diverse of all ocean ecosystems with up to 25% of ocean species depending on them for food and shelter, lead author Lester Kwiatkowski, a PhD student from the University of Exeter, said in a statement. They are believed to be vulnerable to climate change and ocean acidification, but ours is the first study to show a clear link between coral growth and the concentration of particulate pollution in the atmosphere.
Particulate pollution or aerosols reflect incoming sunlight and make clouds brighter, added Dr. Paul Halloran, an ocean biogeochemistry expert at the Met Office Hadley Centre. This can reduce the light available for coral photosynthesis, as well as the temperature of surrounding waters. Together these factors are shown to slow down coral growth.
More:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112817712/air-pollution-affects-coral-reef-growth-040813/