Scuba Science 3 – CORAL REEFS IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD
Richard B. Aronson* and Ian G. Macintyre^ *Florida Institute of Technology ^Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Scuba-based observations on coral reefs in the 1960s conveyed the impression that reefs were in excellent condition and subject to rare natural disturbances. Beginning in the 1970s, however, hurricanes, infectious diseases and coral bleaching fostered a non-equilibrial view of reef systems. Accelerating degradation in recent decades, driven primarily by human activities, has transformed our vision of coral-reef ecology from non-equilibrial to downright apocalyptic. We can predict the decadal- to centennial-scale future of reefs by placing their current state within the context of their Holocene history. Such a paleoecological analysis turns on two questions. First, can we detect the current state of degradation in the Holocene record of the reefs? And second, have these sorts of episodes occurred in the past? We have used a portable, diver-based technique to extract push-cores from reef frameworks in the Caribbean and the tropical eastern Pacific. Identification and radiocarbon dating of the constituents have enabled us to reconstruct the Holocene histories of the reef systems. In the lagoon of the Belizean barrier reef, Discovery Bay, Jamaica, and a coastal lagoon in Caribbean Panamá, the composition of coral assemblages was static for millennia until it changed radically in recent decades. The current state was detectable in the cores and had not …
State of Fear: Comments by Sallie Ballunis
Astrophysicist Sallie Ballunis (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) makes comments related to Michael Crichton’s book ‘State of Fear’ and the modern global warming scare movement. Part 4/8 ‘State of Fear: Science or Politics? An Evening with Michael Crichton.’ by the Independent Institute. NOTE TO ANYONE COMMENTING: Comments that intend to insult, name call, will be deleted. Pretty much: don’t bother commenting if you don’t intend to add anything constructive. Please, keep the disscussion civil, and reasonable. Fight the video based on it’s merits, or lack of; don’t be fighting each other. And as before, I will remove posts containg foul language. or attack the character of anyone There are young people who visit this site. I intend to keep clean this one section of the internet that I have control over.