Environmental News Network: Every year an amazing event happens on this small island, owned by Australia, which is 220 miles away from the nearest land mass. Christmas Island’s geographic isolation and history of limited human disturbance has brought about a high level of species not found elsewhere in the world. Among these species is the Christmas Island Red Crab. Millions of these crabs simultaneously embark on a five kilometer journey to their ocean breeding grounds. Scientists from the University of Bristol and Bangor University believe they have unlocked the mystery to this incredible feat.
Read the August 27th, 2010 full article
JUST 600 metres away from the Great Barrier Reef, the jewel in Australia’s crown, a less spectacular but more ancient reef has been discovered.
“Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by their uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Between 1751 and 1994 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.18 to 8.1. PH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of a solution.”
It’s the biggest environmental disaster in American history – and BP is making it worse
A few million dollars invested by governments in restoring nature could prevent far greater losses of the free services that ecosystems provide to people around the world, a U.N. report said on Thursday.
Scientists returning from a 30-day research expedition to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands found what they believe are 10 new species of coral.
Scientists plan to monitor corals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands next month for signs of bleaching that could harm the reefs.
Coral populations in the Gulf of Mexico could fall because of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster—from contact not with oil but with the dispersant that’s supposed to get rid of it.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2010) — Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa have created the first frozen bank for Hawaiian corals in an attempt to protect them from extinction and to preserve their diversity in Hawaii.
