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 …
Extreme weather, sea-level rise and degraded coastal ecosystems are placing people and property at greater risk of damage from coastal hazards. The likelihood and magnitude of losses may be reduced by intact reefs and coastal vegetation1, especially when those habitats fringe vulnerable communities and infrastructure. Using five sea-level-rise scenarios, we …
Some parts of nature and human society are more vulnerable than expected to climate change, according to a draft of a U.N. report that adds a new purple color to a key diagram to show worsening risks beyond the red used so far. It says "unique and threatened systems" like …
Whereas, the total area of 326.26 square kilometre around Marine National Park arid Marine Sanctuary has been identified as Eco-sensitive zone, of which 208.5818 square kilometre is the area towards landward side, 105.14 square kilornetre towards sea and 12.5384 square kilometer is the area covered by rivers and the Marine …
State-Wise Releases under Centrally Sponsored Schemes for Protection of Environment referred to in the reply to Parts (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.29 regarding “Protection of Environment” by Shri Premchand (Guddu) due for answer on 05.08.2013.
Not only do fish and invertebrates make their own sounds, but wind, waves and currents also create other background noise. And reefs especially are naturally noisy places. Add this noise to the engines and horns of shipping vessels and military sonars, and we have a full-blown orchestra of marine sounds. …
Many species of birds, amphibians and corals not currently under threat will be at risk from climate change and have been wrongly omitted from conservation planning, an international study said on Wednesday. The Amazon rainforest was among the places where ever more types of birds and amphibians would be threatened …
Coastal zones represent diverse ecosystems and support highly productive habitats such as mangroves, mudflats and other marine species. India has a coast line of 7,500 km which is intersected by rocky outcrops and shores with stretches of sandy beaches. It supports over 25% of anthropogenic and socio-economic factors the coastal …
The Gangetic River Dolphin, Asian Elephant, Pangolin and Dugong (sea cow) are among some of the most endangered species from India that feature in the Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered map recently developed by the Zoological Society of London. The map was developed to identify high-priority conservation areas for mammals …
Carbon dioxide levels are about to rise to the highest they have been in five million years, triggering warnings a move towards low carbon economies is not happening quick enough. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 is expected to rise to 400 parts per million in the next few days, according …
Australia's coastline mining industry undergoing a boom as rules relaxed, but Unesco site to be protected under heritage rules Mining shale oil under the Great Barrier Reef is likely to be banned by Australia's federal Labor government as tensions rise over the environmental impact of the booming oil and gas …
Global warming over the 20th century has produced the hottest global average temperatures in 1400 years, a major scientific study has found. Scientists have found that the period between 1971-2000 was warmer than any other time in nearly 1400 years. The first continental-scale reconstruction of temperatures over the past 2000 …
Soot and other particulates have slowed the growth of coral off Belize and Panama Researchers have found the strongest evidence yet that aerosols from burning fossil fuels are affecting coral growth. They say that these sooty particles can cool sea surface temperatures and limit the size of reefs. But they …
Climate change is likely to make reef-building stony corals lose out to softer cousins in a damaging shift for many types of fish that use reefs as hideaways and nurseries for their young, a study showed. Soft corals such as mushroom-shaped yellow leather coral, which lack a hard outer skeleton, …
Coral reefs in shallow ocean waters are far more vulnerable to sea temperature rises blamed on global warming than previously thought, with some areas of the Great Barrier Reef likely to pass critical damage thresholds in roughly 30 years. Australian researchers looked at shallow corals, found in tropical waters under …
Coral reefs in shallow ocean waters are far more vulnerable to sea temperature rises blamed on global warming than previously thought, with some areas of the Great Barrier Reef likely to pass critical damage thresholds in roughly 30 years. Australian researchers looked at shallow corals, found in tropical waters under …
A marine heatwave off Western Australia that killed fish and bleached coral was driven by unusual features in a warm ocean current, new research shows. During the 2011 heatwave, water temperatures were more than three degrees Celsius above long-term seasonal averages. At the peak of the event, for a two-week …
Researchers say that the natural ability of sea urchins to absorb CO2 could be a model for an effective carbon capture and storage system. Newcastle University scientists discovered by chance that urchins use the metal nickel to turn carbon dioxide into shell. They say the technique can be harnessed to …
Increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations in sea water have been linked to a reduction of the temperature threshold at which corals bleach, however, the mechanism underlying this change is not known. This phenomenon is now explained in terms of increased phosphatase activities and imbalanced DIN supply resulting in phosphate …
Comprehensive computer simulations show that coral reefs are likely to suffer extensive long-term degradation resulting from mass bleaching events even if the expected increase in global mean temperature can be kept well below 2 °C. Without major mitigation efforts to limit global warming significantly, the fate of coral reef ecosystems …
Recent advances in DNA-sequencing technologies now allow for in-depth characterization of the genomic stress responses of many organisms beyond model taxa. They are especially appropriate for organisms such as reef-building corals, for which dramatic declines in abundance are expected to worsen as anthropogenic climate change intensifies. Different corals differ substantially …
