Life seems healthy in Gulf coral habitats

Agent Zero · Oct 25, 2010

Cajun Controller said: ↑

Well then using your logic then I guess that racism is doesn't exist, considering that slavery was abolished over 100 years ago a some minorities have been very successful, and even elected president.
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I don't see how that analogy is relevant. Again, you admitted both that permits were being accepted and that the moratorium was lifted. I'm not sure why you're arguing with me.

Cajun Controller · Oct 25, 2010

Agent Zero said: ↑

I don't see how that analogy is relevant. Again, you admitted both that permits were being accepted and that the moratorium was lifted. I'm not sure why you're arguing with me.
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Well when you figure it out get back to me, until then......

Agent Zero · Oct 25, 2010

Cajun Controller said: ↑

Well when you figure it out get back to me, until then......
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I'm not sure what the analogy has to do with the two points that you admitted to, and for some reason arguing with me about now.

Cajun Controller · Oct 25, 2010

Agent Zero said: ↑

I'm not sure what the analogy has to do with the two points that you admitted to, and for some reason arguing with me about now.
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It's ok, once you figure it out get back to me.

Agent Zero · Oct 25, 2010

Cajun Controller said: ↑

It's ok, once you figure it out get back to me.
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Are you going to pretend that you didn't actually admit that the moratorium was lifted and some permits were accepted, or are you hoping that those posts will simply disappear?

Cajun Controller · Oct 26, 2010

Agent Zero said: ↑

Are you going to pretend that you didn't actually admit that the moratorium was lifted and some permits were accepted, or are you hoping that those posts will simply disappear?
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I am not the one who is pretending.....

waltky · Aug 20, 2011

Coral bein' killed off by human waste...

Human Waste Killing Caribbean Coral
August 19, 2011 - First documented case of human pathogen infecting a marine species

In the first documented case of a human pathogen infecting a marine species, U.S. scientists say a bacterium in untreated human sewage is killing coral along the Florida coast and in the Caribbean Sea. The finding was reported this week in the Journal PloS One. Over the past decade, the once-abundant elkhorn coral in Floridian and Caribbean waters has declined by nearly 90 percent. Rollins College coral reef ecologist and report co-author Kathryn Sutherlandand says in 2003 her group identified the culprit, a bacterium in White Pox disease, known as Serratia marcescens. "We knew when we discovered the pathogen that it was common in terrestrial environments, in human guts, in human sewage and that it is a pathogen that causes disease in humans.” But researchers could only speculate that human waste was the source of the pathogen because the same microbes are found in the solid waste of other animals.

Finding the source

In order to determine the source of the pathogen, scientists collected and analyzed human samples from a waste water treatment facility in Key West and from other animals such as key deer and seagulls. And, while they found the pathogen Serratia marcescens in these other animals, the genetic analysis showed that only the strain from human sewage matched the strain found in white pox diseased corals on the reef. In a laboratory experiment, Sutherland and colleagues took small fragments of Elkhorn reef coral and inoculated them with the pathogen found in human sewage. “We watched them for a month’s time to see if disease signs would develop. The strain that came from diseased corals and human waste water, we saw disease signs in four to five days.” Sutherland says the study reveals a new disease pathway, from humans to wildlife rather than the reverse model seen in outbreaks such as bird flu or HIV/AIDS. “This is the first time that a human disease has been shown to cause population declines of Marine invertebrates.”

Waste water treatment

One obvious solution, says Sutherland, is better wastewater treatment. “A decade ago the people of Key West upgraded their sewage treatment from septic systems to advanced waste water treatment and today the entire Florida Keys is in the process of upgrading their waste water treatment.” Sutherland says the new systems keep deadly microbes from the coast where water-related revenues contribute more than $3 billion a year to Florida and the local region. She says the study is a call for action all across the Caribbean - where many island nations still lack sewage treatment systems. Healthy elkhorn can provide habitat for reef fish and protect the coast from severe storms. Yet despite efforts to protect it, elkhorn populations have not grown. Sutherland says that while her team studies the White Pox menace, numerous other threats - including warming sea temperatures and other marine diseases - continue to put the coral community at risk.

Source
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See also:

Deep-Sea Ecosystems at Risk According to Global Marine Census
August 16, 2011 - A team of international scientists is urging measures to protect the Earth's most vast and uncharted territory: the deep sea. The deep sea and its denizens are already facing threats from human activities such as resource exploitation and global warming. Experts say even more threats lie ahead and they warn that while the deep sea environment may be "out of sight and out of mind," the consequences of its destruction could be far-reaching and irreversible.

The Census of Marine Life was a scientific survey of the flora and fauna in the world's oceans, including five deep-sea ecosystems. Cindy Van Dover, Professor of Biological Oceanography at Duke University, explains the purpose of the Census. "It was designed to explore what creatures live in the sea, what are they doing there, what were they like in the past, what will they be like in the future," said Van Dover. "It was an effort to bring an international community together to ask questions, where there were synergies that could be developed from working with people from different countries different assets, and begin to build our understanding of what lives in the sea and what will live in the sea."

During the 10-year survey, which ended in 2010, Van Dover and other scientists began to see the threats facing marine biodiversity, especially near the ocean floor. They highlight some of those concerns about the human impact on the deep sea in a newly-published paper. Van Dover is particularly worried about the exploitation of the deep sea's mineral resources. "There are mining companies that want to extract the minerals on which these animals live," Van Dover added. "So if you were to take away the substratum, you also would take away the animal. How many habitats could you remove? They [the animals] would re-colonize, but there'll be a tipping point where there's not enough brood stock left to populate the site. It's real easy to very quickly exhaust a resource because the reproductive rates aren't fast enough to replenish." Van Dover says widespread mining of ocean-bottom muds containing valuable rare earth elements, manganese nodules and sulphide deposits is inevitable. But she warns that unless these operations are carefully executed, with restoration programs in place, marine biodiversity will be lost.

Dr. Lisa Levin is a Professor of biological oceanography at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California. She worries about how rising temperatures in the atmosphere also bring about change in the ocean. Among the likely scenarios, she says, are stratification, acidification, and changes in nutrient distribution, temperature profiles, and oxygen levels. So how will these changes affect deep sea creatures? "We don't actually know! The jury is out. People haven't done the studies," said Levin who is worried about species extinction, and notes that extinctions have their own set of consequences. "We almost certainly will see some changes in range distributions and when one species appears or disappears, of course its predators and its prey, also have changing interactions."

Experts say species that are narrowly distributed and do not have high reproductive rates are very sensitive to small disturbances. Unfortunately, this applies to many species in the deep ocean. But scientists point out that the ocean is not just the most diverse habitat on earth, it is also the evolutionary starting point for all life on Earth. Craig Smith, professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii, says that's why the deep sea is so vulnerable and valuable to us today. "It actually contains a lot of unique evolutionary information and a lot of that information may be valuable in terms of biotechnology," explained Smith. "Extinction is permanent, when you cause reduced biodiversity through extinction, you're changing the course of life of evolution on this planet which is the most unique thing about our planet and to be changing that is a pretty undesirable thing to be doing."

Smith says maintaining the biodiversity and health of the deep ocean is just as important as extracting its commodities. And he hopes policy makers understand that. He and the other scientists involved in the Census of Marine Life program hope that their reports do more than just synthesize their data. They want it to capture the attention of the world's scientists, private citizens, and the myriad industries that value the ocean's resources. The goal, Cindy Van Dover says, is to promote ocean stewardship, restoration, mitigation and conservation. "I'd like for someone 50 years from now someone to look back at how we've regulated the deep ocean industry and say 'man, these guys got it right when they first started.' And that's a tough thing to do and I don't know if we're going to get it right. But we sure have to try," said Van Dover.

Source
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Tagurit · Aug 20, 2011

Cajun Controller said: ↑

Listen I understand you want to try and make it look as though Obumble is some sort of hero in this mess but unless you live here and are affected by what happened then you have no idea or clue. The moratorium may have technically been lifted, but it should have never been enacted the way it was to begin with and with all of the red tape and the holdups by those issuing the permits it (the moratorium) is still in place.
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You are wasting your time. The eco-socialists will NEVER, NOT EVER admit to the hyperbole and outright fabrications about the GOM spill. Even now they continue with obfuscations. Despite evidence to contrary, continue to expect platitudes about how we should wait, for years, to see if damage magically appears. This is much the same tactic used by the AGW crowd, in fact they are typically the same people.

waltky · Dec 14, 2012

Study Shows Positive Signs for Coral...

Reefs Resilient to Ocean Acidity Say Australian Researchers
December 14, 2012 New Australian research shows coral reefs are more resistant to ocean acidification than first thought. Scientists have been concerned that coral is vulnerable when carbon levels in the atmosphere rise, along with the acidity of the ocean. But an Australian National University study on the Great Barrier Reef suggests otherwise.

Amid the threat to reefs from the effects of climate change, pollution and overfishing, Australian researchers have found some rare good news. A team at the Australia National University in Canberra has been investigating coralline algae, which are plants that act like a glue to bind coral. One useful analogy is that the algae are the cement, while the coral are the bricks that comprise a reef system. A new study has found that dolomite, a carbonate mineral, helps to protect reefs from rising ocean acidity, which is caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Corals are seen at the Great Barrier Reef in this January 2002 handout photo.

Lead author Merinda Nash, a doctoral student, says it is an important discovery. There was a lot of concern that the coralline algae, which plays a key role in building the reef and binding corals together, that this would be the first thing to dissolve as CO2 went up and that that would impact the reef structure," she said. "So we found that this presence of dolomite actually reduced the dissolution rate significantly to about one tenth the rate of the algae without the dolomite, so that's quite good news. Many scientists believe that carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are making the oceans more acidic.

Coral reefs are home to hundreds of fish, sea stars, crabs and marine worms, as well as a wondrous array of other animals and shellfish. Reefs across the Asia-Pacific are widely considered to be at risk from a variety of threats. Conservationists say Australias iconic Great Barrier Reef is at risk from industrial development, including dredging to build giant coal ports in the state of Queensland and from the run-off of pesticides from farms. By 2020 it is estimated that 7,000 ships will travel across the reef every year, as the export of Australias natural resources intensifies. The reef is the largest in the world and snakes for about 2,500 kilometers down Australias northeastern coast. It is the only living thing visible from space.

Source
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slashbeast · Dec 14, 2012

I'm no tree hugger or anything, but it's nice to know the oil spill didn't kill off those wild life habitats.

Thanks for the good news.

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