Alarm bells ring out for reef-building corals
A major new report in Science, published online on 10th July, reveals that a third of the world's reef building coral species face an elevated extinction risk from climate change and local impacts. This alarming picture is the outcome of a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of coral species by the world's leading coral experts, using the IUCN Red List Criteria.
The study found that the extinction risk of corals has increased dramatically over the past decade. Before the warm-water event in 1998 that caused coral bleaching and death on a massive scale, only 13 out of 704 coral species (less than 2%) were in the threatened categories, but now the list contains 231 species (33%). The proportion of threatened coral species exceeds that of most terrestrial animal groups apart from amphibians, indicating their apparent susceptibility to climate change.
Elizabeth Wood, MCS Coral Reef Conservation Officer and one of the 34 co-authors of the report, hopes that this analysis will be a wake-up call for renewed efforts to protect coral reefs. "Coral reefs are one of the planet's most incredible and diverse living systems and provide local communities in over 100 countries with food and other natural resources. With so many corals now clearly identified as being at risk, we need to do all that we can to keep reefs and coral healthy and prevent what could be disastrous losses to global marine biodiversity".
The study found that the extinction risk of corals has increased dramatically over the past decade. Before the warm-water event in 1998 that caused coral bleaching and death on a massive scale, only 13 out of 704 coral species (less than 2%) were in the threatened categories, but now the list contains 231 species (33%). The proportion of threatened coral species exceeds that of most terrestrial animal groups apart from amphibians, indicating their apparent susceptibility to climate change.
Elizabeth Wood, MCS Coral Reef Conservation Officer and one of the 34 co-authors of the report, hopes that this analysis will be a wake-up call for renewed efforts to protect coral reefs. "Coral reefs are one of the planet's most incredible and diverse living systems and provide local communities in over 100 countries with food and other natural resources. With so many corals now clearly identified as being at risk, we need to do all that we can to keep reefs and coral healthy and prevent what could be disastrous losses to global marine biodiversity".
Page last modified: 14th Jul 2008 - 14:23:54