One Third Of Coral Reefs Face Extinction - Study
A third of reef-building corals around the world are threatened with extinction, according to the first-ever comprehensive global assessment to determine their conservation status. The study findings were published today by Science Express. Leading coral experts joined forces with the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) – a joint initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI) – to apply the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria to this important group of marine species. "The results of this study are very disconcerting," stated Kent Carpenter, lead author of the Science article, GMSA Director, IUCN Species Programme. "When corals die off, so do the other plants and animals that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter, and this can lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems." Read More...
Read the whole article on Scientific Blogging
More from Scientific Blogging
Related
- 1/3 of reef-building corals face extinctionThu, 10 Jul 2008, 14:22:33 EDT
- Shipwrecks on coral reefs harbor unwanted speciesTue, 19 Aug 2008, 20:35:40 EDT
- Protection zones in the wrong place to prevent coral reef collapseTue, 26 Aug 2008, 22:14:24 EDT
- Reef boom beats doomThu, 23 Apr 2009, 9:25:28 EDT
- Coral face 'a stormy future'Tue, 23 Jun 2009, 9:29:36 EDT