12 Jul 2008:
Alarm bells for reef-building corals
The
study found that the extinction risk of corals has increased
dramatically over the past decade. Before the warm-water event in 1998
that caused coral bleaching and death on a massive scale, only 13 out
of 704 coral species (less than 2%) were in the threatened categories,
but now the list contains 231 species (33%). The proportion of
threatened coral species exceeds that of most terrestrial animal
groups, apart from amphibians.
Liz Wood,
MCS Coral Reef Conservation Officer hopes that this analysis will be a
wake-up call for renewed efforts to protect coral reefs. "With so
many corals now clearly identified as being at risk, we need to do all
that we can to keep reefs and coral healthy, and prevent what could be
disastrous losses to global marine biodiversity".
A
major report in the journal Science, published online on the 10th July,
reveals that a third of the world's reef building coral species face an
elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts.
The study was undertaken by 34 of the world's leading coral experts, including Liz Wood, MCS Coral Reef Conservation Officer.
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