“Even during the severe heat wave of 2015, not only did 20 percent of reefs in clean water with herbivorous fish survive the heat, but some reefs survived the heat. Improvedsaid Greg Asner, an ecologist at Arizona State University and co-author of the study. Allen Coral Atlas Coral reef mapping project. “There are vast areas of the planet facing the same problem. Yes, and don’t get me wrong, and this is important, another factor that is destroying coral reefs is coastal wastewater and coastal pollution…it’s definitely a global problem. is.”
The study examined 190 miles of Hawaiian coastline from 2003 to 2019. Asner and his colleagues collected data on ocean temperatures, surveyed coral reefs, and calculated, for example, how much biomass there was in fish. On land, they calculated the amount of urban runoff in a given area—all the dirt that washes off the roads, including motor oil and other nasty chemicals. They also calculated the wastewater runoff, or how much nitrogen would flow into the ocean. “Of all the land problems, the number one problem we have is that human waste ends up in the ocean,” Asner said. “Each household produces an incredible amount of wastewater pollution.”
(They didn’t tally the array of drugs that pass through the human body and into the wastewater through the sewage system. We are just beginning to study whether there is sexuality, says Asner. )
Rising temperatures are taking a toll on systems already strained by pollution and overfishing. “In 2015, we sounded the alarm bells on a massive scale. The first and largest ever marine heatwave arrived, and corals were cooked for over 12 weeks. In some areas, up to 50 We lost more than 25 percent overall,” says Asner. “Pollution, less herbivore fish, and heat, he is a combination of three things, not additive, multiplicative. Coral reef health deteriorates significantly in this heat wave. ”
