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EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE ON CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
FISHER, W. S., L. M. OLIVER, J. E. ROGERS, AND D. L. SANTAVY. EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE ON CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-12/041, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
Report on the effects of global change on coral reef ecosystems.
Description:
Corals and coral reefs of the Caribbean and through the world are deteriorating at an accelerated rate. Several stressors are believed to contrbute to this decline, including global changes in atmospheric gases and land use patterns. In particular, warmer water temperatures and elevated exposure to ultraviolet radiation has been linked to coral bleaching, which occurs when corals lose symbiotic algae. Bleached corals may recover, contract infectious diseases, or become overgrown with a layer of macroalgae. Loss of corals has significant socioeconomic repercussions; in Florida, Hawaii and most U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, coral reefs provide valued services in the form of fisheries, recreation, tourism and coastal protection from storm erosion.