2006
(10 Jul 2006) Corals Fighting Effects of Fossil
Fuel (The Citizen): "..."This is an almost three-fold increase
in the rate of increase of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Of great concern
is the fact that there is no sign that this rate of increase is going to slow
down any time soon," said Chris Langdon, one of the authors of the study and a
professor with the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and
Atmospheric Science. "This is not like bleaching that can kill corals outright.
This is more of a debilitating and chronic condition, like arthritis and or
osteoporosis. It reduces their fitness and makes them more susceptible to other
forms of stress. The only solution, he said, is to curb carbon dioxide
emissions, which causes the ocean's warming and acidification." (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48232-3,00.html)
(10 Jul 2006) Ailing Reefs Face New Threat of
Acidity (Inter Press Service News Agency):: " Climate change
is making the world's oceans more acidic, seriously endangering marine
ecosystems, including coral reefs. ... Other experiments show coral reefs
forming much less dense skeletons, a process similar to osteoporosis in humans,
said Chris Langdon of the University of Miami." (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48234-3,00.html)
(6 Jul 2006) Rising Ocean Acidity Threatens Reefs
(Discovery Channel News):
The same manmade gases that are heating up the planet are also making oceans
acidic enough to dissolve the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms,
according to a new scientific report released Wednesday. ... It could also pose
a critical problem for coastlines protected by coral reefs, said Chris Langdon,
a coral researcher at the University of Miami."(http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48158-3,00.html)
(6 Jul 2006) Effects of Climate Change on Oceans
Gaining Attention (Seattle Post-Intelligencer): "...Coral reefs are
like the rain forests of the ocean," noted co-author Chris Langdon, a coral
expert at the University of Miami. Acidification of seawater undermines
the skeletal structures of coral, Langdon said, which in turn undermines this
basic marine ecosystem and harms other species that have evolved to depend upon
it." (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48233-3,00.html)
(5 Jul 2006) Report Warns of Rising Carbon
Dioxide Threats to Marine Life (NSF
News):
"Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil
fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine
organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and help support
ocean biodiversity. ....
This threat is hitting coral reefs at the same time
that they are being hit by warming-induced mass bleaching events," says Chris
Langdon at the University of Miami, one of the report's authors." (
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=107060)
(5 Jul 2006) Growing Acidity
of Oceans May Kill Corals (Washington Post):
The ph level for the world's oceans was stable between 1000
and 1800, but has dropped one-tenth of a unit since the Industrial Revolution,
according to Christopher Langdon, a University of Miami marine biology
professor." (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48118-3,00.html).
(5 Jul 2006) Fossil Fuels
Said to Damage Ocean Life (The New York Times):
Corals and other marine creatures are threatened by chemical
changes in the ocean caused by the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, a
panel of scientists warned Wednesday. ... Chris Langdon at the University of
Miami said studies show that coral calcification consistently decreases as
the oceans become more acidic. That means these organisms will grow more slowly,
or their skeletons will become less dense, a process similar to osteoporosis in
humans. That threatens reefs because corals may be unable to build reefs as fast
as erosion wears away the reefs." (http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/1,1770,39370-1;48157-3,00.html)
(21 Jun 2006) "Coral Reefs in Peril
(Miami Herald):
Global in scope and chronic in nature, ocean
acidification
significantly reduces the ability of
reef-building corals to produce their
skeletons." (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/14865978.htm)
(7 Feb 2006)
Oceanic Acidity
(RSMAS Press): "The ocean is getting more
and more acidic, and that's bad news for coral
reefs. That's
the word from University of Miami Rosenstiel School's Dr. Christopher Langdon
who will speak on “Possible Consequences of Increasing Atmospheric CO2 on Coral
Reef Ecosystems,” Monday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. HST (8 p.m. EST) in Honolulu at the
American Geophysical Union's 2006 Ocean Sciences Meeting."
(RSMAS Press Release, 17 Feb 2006)
2005
(13 Oct 2005) "SDC Host
Environmental Experts. A team of professors and deans from three of
America's top universities was being hosted in Antigua by Stanford Development
Co. Ltd. (SDC) as part of an ongoing study of the island's offshore ecosystem.
Included in the team were Dean of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of
Marine and Atmospheric Science Otis Brown and the University's Associate Dean
Jay Blaire. Coral Reef and Fish experts John and Liana McManus, of the
University of Miami..." (click here to read more on this at
http://www.antiguasun.com/paper/?as=view&sun=450555038210172005&an=112713108310132005&ac=Local&aop=472312107610132005)
(14 Sep14 2005)
"Coral
Reef Survival:
New Research predicts the damage from increased carbon dioxide in the ocean...'The
ocean is known to absorb carbon dioxide, causing measurable changes in seawater
chemistry of the surface ocean,' said Chris Langdon, associate director of the
National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research at the University of Miami's
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and one of the paper's
authors. 'If this process continues to increase at the current rate, we expect
carbon dioxide levels (and consequently the acidity of the ocean) to increase
200-300 percent in the next 50-100 years, so it is important to learn how these
changes might affect marine ecosystems.'"
(read more on this at
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/pressreleases/20050914-corals.html)
(6 Aug 2005)..."McManus speaks about
the importance of marine life: Professor John W. McManus, Director of
the University of Miami's National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research and
doctoral candidate Cathleen Bliss made a dynamic presentation about Antigua's
coastal reefs to local students..." [click
here to read more on this special feature from Antigua Sun Weekend Magazine]
(5 Aug 2005)..."Coral Reefs can make
a full recovery: Dr. McManus: ... McManus said, he was very excited
about what he saw in the Antiguan waters. "We're finding promising signs of a
recovering reef in the North Sound, and are impressed with the efforts of the
government to tackle head-on the difficult challenges of restoring this valuable
natural resource."...[read more on this at
http://www.antiguasun.com/paper/?as=view&sun=470917109908302005&an=140802109408052005&ac=Local&aop=460612108508052005]
2004
(6 Feb
2004)... "Later this year, Cayman's reefs will be the basis for two
PhDs that will work to better understand how coral reefs function....The
Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) has granted Marilyn Brandt, a
University of Miami PhD student, the CCMI Coral Reef Fellowship....CCMI is
also assisting research by Aletta T Yniguez, a native of the Philippines, and
Fulbright Scholar at the University of Miami. Using her work on Little Cayman,
she plans to develop a computer model that shows 3D macroalgae growing as they
respond to their environment of light, nutrients and the space around them."....[read
more on this at
http://www.caymannetnews.com/2004/02/587/reefs.shtml]
2003
(22 July 2003)..."Caribbean Corals in
Dire Trouble: Corals are rapidly disappearing from reefs in the
Caribbean...John McManus, director of the National Center for Caribbean Coral
Reef Research at the University of Miami in Florida, said that the results of
this study are consistent with the extrapolations he and others have made in
recent years, but he nevertheless finds this study's results and those of others
depressing. "I set up and ran ReefBase for a while—the global database on coral
reefs. I felt like I was something like an editor of obituaries," he said."
[read more on this at
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0722_030722_coral.html]
(12 Sep
12 2003)..."The National Center for
Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE) has recently sent a team of graduate
students down to the Punta Cana region on the southeastern coast of the
Dominican Republic where they completed a week long coral reef survey."....[read
more on this at
http://www.puntacana.org/news5.htm].
2001
(24 Aug 2001)..."When the water gets hot, you get massive coral mortality," said Dr. John
McManus, director of the National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research at
the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Research.
"We saw areas where for tens or hundreds of kilometers, there was 90
percent death. Total global coral mortality may have been as high as 20
percent." ....[read more on this at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/earth/features/coral.html]
