Hawaiian Heat
by Jack Penland |
October 12th, 2009 |
Published in
Animals & Life Science, Environment, Featured
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[If you cannot see the flash video below, you can click here for a high quality mp4 video.]
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Interviewee: Ku’ulei Rodgers, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Produced by Jack Penland– Edited by Christopher Bergendorff and Brad KlozaCopyright © ScienCentral, Inc |
Citizen Science
“The reefs are in grave danger,” explains Ku’ulei Rodgers, Assistant Researcher at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology near Honolulu. She adds, “They’re going to change and, that if we don’t take action now… then we aren’t going to have coral reefs within the next century.” Since 1998 Rodgers has helped lead an on-going statewide effort to monitor Hawaii’s coral reefs called the Hawaii Coral Reef Assessment & Monitoring Program (CRAMP).
The citizen science effort is an opportunity for interested people to have the chance to participate in real scientific research into how a warming planet will lead to a warmer ocean and create problems for the world’s coral reefs. They participate in organized snorkeling inspections of reefs and are trained by scientists to spot how the reefs may be changing.
Coral reefs serve as a haven for ocean life, with some calling them the “Rainforests of the Sea” as a way of describing the wide varieties of life that call the reefs home. When asked what impact climate change will have on ocean life, Rodgers says, “There probably will be a big impact because there’ll be less fish. When there’s less corals, there’s less fish.”
The institute conducted some of the earliest research into the causes of coral bleaching, finding that, among other things, a warming ocean can kill off the algae that have a symbiotic relationship with the coral, which stresses the coral.
Now, Rodgers and others at the institute are focusing on what global warming, sea level rise and ocean acidification may mean for the coral reefs. Since scientists project that some of the excess Carbon Dioxide in the air will eventually be taken up by the ocean, leading to a more acidic ocean and turn the ocean more acidic, the researchers want to know what this will do to corals.
Rodgers holds a coral that has been in a tank with seawater conditions expected in the year 2100 and compares it with one grown in a nearby tank with today’s water. She notes, “You can see very little growth has occurred in the 10 months that it was in the tank.”
Another concern is what the acid might do to the specific algae called calcareous coralline algae that holds the coral reefs together and act as a substrate or base upon which corals can grow. Rodgers holds two rhodoliths, or colonies of the algae, one that lived in a tank filled with today’s water while the other spent the same amount of time in a tank with the acidic seawater expected in 2100. Gesturing with one she says, “This colony (grown in today’s water) grew and this colony (grown in the year 2100 seawater) dissolved.”
She adds, “This is what we’re expecting our reefs to do. We’re expecting them by the year 2100 not to be able to compete with a world that has very low pH (more acidic) and they will start dissolving and the foundations of the reef will fall apart.”
The citizen science project is one of a number around the country looking for local indicators of climate change. It is organized nationally by the Association of Science-Technology Museums (ASTC) and currently has a dozen science museums participating in their communicating climate change project. In Hawaii, it is sponsored in conjunction with Honolulu’s Bishop Museum and the worldwide organization, “Reef Check.” Reef Check describe there mission on their web site as, “to create a global network of volunteer teams trained in Reef Check’s scientific methods who regularly monitor and report on reef health.”
PUBLICATIONS: “Quantifying the Conditions of Hawaiian Coral Reefs,” Aquatic Conservation (in press), “Ocean Acidification and Calcifying Reef Organisms: a Mesocosm Investigationm” Coral Reefs, September 2008
RESEARCH FUNDED BY: National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water Quality, USGS, and the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative and the National Ocean Service.
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July 16th, 2009 at 7:42 pm (#)
Do ya think that maybe, just maybe, the tens of thousands of underwater volcanoes, spewing out sulfur dioxide and co2, as well as Hawaii’s own volcanoes dumping acids into the sea may have a little to do with the acidity of the oceans. Tho oceans are salty, were they salty from the beginning or did MAN do that too? All of the marine life taking in terrestrial nutrients and dying, decaying, peeing and pooping in their own fishbowl does not promote clean water either, does it?
July 16th, 2009 at 7:55 pm (#)
I thought warm water freed uo CO2 from solution. CO2 is a very weak acid and dissociates readily from its dissolved form to the gasseous form. Shake a warm Coke and open it and see for yourself. Also if golbal warming is gonna melt those fresh water glaciers and those Antarctic ice sheets and raise water levels then there is more un
saturated and less saline water ….. dilution effect, ass well as a cooling effect … ice cube in a warm glass of water scenarion. They also fail to mention that coral does not prefer water that is too cold either. Also, do we know for sure that humans are not introducing harmful pathogens to the coral ecosystem …. human fungi, bacteria and viruses from all of those scientists, observers and eco-tourists bent on “saving” the coral?
August 12th, 2009 at 11:54 am (#)
iike, no disrespect, but watch the video again. They tested current acidity levels against predicted future levels. They didn’t say that volcanoes do not produce sulfuric acid. The problem is the added acids to the system, not the natural ones. Also, there are natural systems in place to recycle the waste produced by marine life (bacteria, etc). If the waste is not recycled it is stored on the ocean floor. There are bodies and bodies of research showing that the oceans are warming and becoming more acidic. There are also more studies which show the rate of extinction is exponentially greater now than when we had less of an impact on this planet. The question is not whether or not they are doing so, but why. And, for the most part, we can directly correlate human activities with the rises in temperature and acidity. Just look at the Mississippi river and denitrification in the Gulf of Mexico. Carbon Dioxide has been front and center in the news but we have more problems, or solutions to find, than just carbon dioxide emissions. Wouldn’t it serve us better to worry about our planets species diversity now, while we still debate, or should we just wait till everything is extinct. I would rather err on the side of caution than blatantly baulk in the face of the change that is coming. Doh, one last thing. The melting ice caps are a problem for sure. You hit is on the head, we really do not know what will happen with the ocean currents etc. whith all of that extra fresh/cold water. We can make predictions. We can look at past events. Ocean currents have a big effect on our planet, from wind, rain, temperature, and more. Europe could be thrown into another ice age while the Americas are turned into desserts. Who knows? We can only look at the natural systems, that are changing, and make predictions using logic, math, and good common sense. I really wonder why people are arguing against cleaner emissions. Do they not see that it will create cleaner air for their children to breath? Do they not see that if we embrace it, it can create a new job market for our country? Why let the research, technology, and jobs go to another country when we could seriously benefit from it? I love that people question research findings, but, do they really want more information? Keeping researchers honest and informing the public is one thing, but blatant ignorance and disbelief is another. Why would anyone want more pollution in the air/water? Why would anyone want there children more prone to asthma and cancer? Enough on my rant. I just don’t think some people get that being aware and or worried about the environment is being worried about ones family and future of our planet. I’m tired of those who think that people worried about the environment are self deprecating or loathing of human kind, they are not, for the most part it is quite the opposite.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm (#)
Poor iike just doesn’t seem to comprehend the complexity or magnitude of what we’re facing.
April 26th, 2010 at 7:06 pm (#)
Racktip Oddling I see a good series of valid questions that I posed were wasted on your puny brain. Read and agree or refute my claims, if you can offer proof or a good argument. NOBODY comprehends the complexity or magnitude, that’s why they make widely variable predictions based on MODELS. That’s why they say temps MAY be 2-10 deg F, areas MAY have more drought, rain, storms, etc. MAYBE is not definite. People try to treat the earth as a static “in a bottle” system …. it’s not…. it’s dynamical, chaotic and difficult to predict. Yet WE should act as if it’s written in stone by MOTHER NATURE herself? You need to read my coments and do more research before you criticize me. Explain solar flux/storms/sunspots,CME’s, earth’s orbit, wobble, tilt, space dust, magnetic field, cosmic rays, ozone, dust and particulates/ bacterial cloud nuclei, albedo, ice quakes, volcanoes …underwater and above ground, plant particulates and isoprene, forest denuding, rice paddies, lakes and reservoirs, coal fires and many more occurances on atmospheric conditions and chemistry …. and you tell me the ONLY thing we have to consider is MAN MADE CO2?
And yes Steve … we do need more information. And yes there are “natural” systems in place to take care of natural waste. But your logis is that there are NO systems to take care of “man’s” waste. Fossil fuels are natural in source and at on time were “natural” CO2. We burn them and release the “natural” CO2 back into nature …. yet nature has no way to utilize it? Nature already has with measurable increase in plant bio-mass.
April 26th, 2010 at 7:16 pm (#)
What is the present ph? What ph were the corals grown is? Has the water been tested for the source of the decreased ph? Is it CO2, nitrogen acid, sulfur acids (from volcanoes)? She said the reefs are in GRAVE DANGER (in the distant future of course), yet offered no measurement of the decrease compared to an earlier time? Video is long on scare and short of proof.
August 24th, 2010 at 11:25 am (#)
Have Ike has his answers please, or are his questions too complex, or outside the thinking box of scientists with tunnel vision….
August 27th, 2010 at 9:36 am (#)
I was hoping on an intelligent response for all the questions Ike asked…
What wrong with this picture?
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Do ya think that maybe, just maybe, the tens of thousands of underwater volcanoes, spewing out sulfur dioxide and co2, as well as Hawaii’s own volcanoes dumping acids into the sea may have a little to do with the acidity of the oceans. Tho oceans are salty, were they salty from the beginning or did MAN do that too? All of the marine life taking in terrestrial nutrients and dying, decaying, peeing and pooping in their own fishbowl does not promote clean water either, does it?
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July 10th, 2012 at 12:13 am (#)
Another concern is what the acid might do to the specific algae called calcareous coralline algae that holds the coral reefs together and act as a substrate or base upon which corals can grow.
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The researchers project that some of the excess Carbon Dioxide in the air will be taken up by the sea, causing it to be more acidic. In effect, the corals’ growth slows down significantly.
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January 14th, 2013 at 12:11 pm (#)
This corals base their reproduction on moon light cycles. If you introduce heat you are introducing large algae waves. Those alagae interpose themselves in the light path thus impeding proper synch of the coral. Moreover this sync probably happens through melanopsin which isn’t very light sensitive by default…
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