Coral reefs have exceptional levels of biodiversity and provide important social and ecological services, including food, coastal protection, recreation, tourism, and cultural connections. However, local stressors and climate change are causing a sharp decline in coral reefs and the more than 230 international agreements with coral reef provisions have failed …
Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty (Rhodophyta: Solieriaceae) is a Philippine-derived macroalga introduced into the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, South India for mariculture in 2000. Here we report its bioinvasion on branching corals (Acropora sp.) in the Kurusadai Island. Qualitative data collected using underwater photography clearly indicated its invasion and …
sunscreens almost always figure in a swimmer's paraphernalia. While it protects the skin from ultraviolet rays of the sun, it also causes considerable damage to marine life. If the idea appears far-fetched, consider this: a recent study has found that chemicals in sunscreen products threaten about 10 per cent of …
Coral Flourishing At Bikini Atoll Atomic Test Site AUSTRALIA: April 16, 2008 CANBERRA - Coral is again flourishing in the crater left by the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated by the United States, 54 years after the blast on Bikini Atoll, marine scientists said on Tuesday. A team of research …
Contrary to expectations, a microscopic plant that lives in oceans around the world may thrive in the changing ocean conditions of the coming decades, a team of scientists reported Thursday. British Scientists Say Carbon Dioxide Is Turning the Oceans Acidic (July 1, 2005) The main threat to many marine organisms …
A parliamentary panel has asked the Environment and Forests Ministry to sensitise villagers to man-animal co-existence and also involve them in wildlife conservation. In many cases villagers are protecting poachers, says the committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, in its report submitted in both Houses on Tuesday. Relocation …
A beautiful black, white and yellow butterflyfish, much admired by eco-tourists, divers and aquarium keepers alike, may be at risk of extinction, scientists have warned. The case of the Chevroned Butterflyfish is a stark example of how human pressure on the world's coral reefs is confronting certain species with '
This special report does not seek to paint a comprehensive picture of the state of the oceans. It does not set out to recapitulate the many years of debate on ocean overfishing. WBGU concentrates instead on those key linkages between climate change and the oceans that are the topic of …
Human activities are affecting every square mile of the world's oceans, according to a study by a team of American, British and Canadian researchers who mapped the severity of the effects from pole to pole. The analysis of 17 global data sets, led by Benjamin S. Halpern of the National …
The South Pacific nations recently agreed to stop bottom trawling to protect corals and other marine life. Bottom trawling is a fishing method where boats tow heavy trawl nets along the sea floor. This destroys coral reefs and stirs up the sediments suffocating marine life. The agreement, reached on May …
an endangered creature holds the key to arresting the decline of coral reefs. It is the batfish (Platax pinnatus). This timid fish has a surprising capacity of cleaning up dense weedy strands that smother inshore coral reefs and result in a macro-algal dominance over it. This overgrowth of macro-algal weeds …
coastal mangroves and green belts offer little or no protection against the power of a tsunami, according to a recent study. Conducted by the arc Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Australia, the University of Guam, and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Indonesia Programme, the study …
The wonders of the marine world don't cease to amaze. The latest is a yellow coral, Isis hippuris, collected off the coast of Okinawa island of Japan. The coral has yielded a compound that can slow down and possibly prevent virus replication and also treat cancer. Biochemist Jerry Pelletier of …
STRAIT FORWARD A 150-year-old dream acquires shape The channel across the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka is expected to be operational by 2008: it will allow ships sailing between the east and west coasts of India a straight passage through India's territorial waters, instead of circumnavigating Sri Lanka. …
After the deluge, it's usThe bustle's gone out of Tharangambadi. The once-prosperous Dutch-controlled port was before last year's tsunami a contented fishing village
Greenpeace, a non-profit organisation, has apologised for the damage caused to 160 sq metre of coral reef by its ship Rainbow Warrior ii, in Philippines, on October 31, 2005. The reef is a 32,000-hectare formation in the Sulu Sea in central Philippines that is listed by the un Educational, Scientific …
increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are turning the oceans acidic, warns the Royal Society, Britain's leading scientific organisation. The growing acidity is very likely to harm coral reefs and other marine life by the end of the century, the society said in a report prepared by a panel of …
Post-tsunami, expensive coral restoration plans might not be needed after all, says a recent advisory report commissioned by the World Bank (wb) and prepared by scientists led by a researcher from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (unt), the uk. The team has recommended that coral reefs be allowed to …
By increasing the acidity levels of oceans, global warming could spell doom for corals by 2065. Katherine Richardson, a researcher from Denmark's department of marine ecology, gave this warning during the EuroScience Open Forum 2004. According to her, levels of carbon dioxide (co2)
the importance of mangroves as nurseries of coral reef fish has been quantified for the first time in a study published in the journal Nature (Vol 427, No 6974, February 5, 2004). "Beyond showing they (mangroves) are important, we showed they are much more important than assumed,' says Peter Mumby, …
