![]() ![]() Some reasons for coral loss are better documented than others, but it is clear that a host of both global and local phenomena play a part. Coral decline affects not only coral reefs the US Commission on Ocean Policy estimates that coral reefs provide a staggering $375 billion per year in goods and services. This is an unprecedented decline it would be the ecological equivalent of losing pine trees from the southeastern United States, hardwood trees from New England, or aspens from the Rocky Mountains - all in little more than a decade. At present, 30% of the world's corals are at elevated risk of extinction. In 2006, both species were listed as vulnerable under the US endangered species act and in 2009 both were elevated to threatened status. In the early 1980s, these were the two most abundant corals in the Caribbean. Today, both species are scarce and a patch the size of a desk merits gathering graduate students for a viewing. cervicornis, respectively) that entire reef zones were named after these species and patches the size of city blocks were common. In the early 1980s, the Caribbean had such huge stands of elkhorn and staghorn corals ( Acropora palmate and A. Over the last 30-40 years, coral cover in the Caribbean has declined by 80% and in the Indo-Pacific by 50%. Long-term, we will also need to address drivers of climate change and ocean acidification. Strategic management of fish stock across broader spatial scales may be our best bet for bringing reefs back from the brink of ecological extinction in the near term. ![]() Reef ecologists are rapidly gaining new insights into the mechanisms driving reef decline and by doing so are discovering additional options for protecting and restoring coral reef ecosystems. But the insidious, day-to-day insults from overfishing, elevated CO 2, and nutrient pollution may be just as devastating because they are chronic and omnipresent. Accidents like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico capture public attention and bring needed focus to declining marine ecosystems. One of the world's most productive, species-rich, and visually spectacular ecosystems is in unprecedented global decline, mandating immediate and informed action. Coral reefs are declining dramatically due to cascades of interacting stresses ranging from global warming, overfishing, pollution, and ocean acidification to catastrophic events like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ![]()
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