Coral growth in the Great Barrier Reef has slowed in the last 20 years. Specifically, the coral are less able to absorb calcium from the ocean water. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide is the cause.
“The data suggest that such a severe and sudden decline in calcification is unprecedented in at least the past 400 years,” the researchers stated in the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal
Science.
Both warming ocean temperatures and ocean acidification are cited as culprits.
MSNBC reported on the study. Read the rest of the article here.
