Florida coral battered by hurricanes and disease By Laura Myers (Reuters)
In the azure waters of Florida's remote Dry Tortugas National Park, corals have been toppled by hurricanes and blighted by disease and a phenomenon known as bleaching. Eight hurricanes in two years and a plague of disease that swept the Caribbean recently have damaged the colorful, thick carpets of open- water coral reefs in the 100-square-mile (260-sq-km) park off Florida's southwest coast. With another hurricane season under way and diseases such as white plague getting an early start this year, scientists surveying the reef expressed heightened concern for the fragile corals, which are important nurseries and habitats for marine life and harbingers of the health of the seas.... Researchers are sounding dire warnings about the health of the world's coral reefs. The reef running alongside the 110-mile (177-km) Florida Keys island chain is North America's only barrier reef and the world's third longest. The Tortugas Ecological Reserve was created in 2001 by the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary as the largest U.S. permanent reserve where all fishing and removal of coral is banned. At the time, it was considered to contain some of the nation's healthiest coral. But 10 percent to 12 percent of the corals surveyed appear to be diseased compared to only 1 percent to 2 percent in 2001, said researcher Dione Swanson. The affected corals include star, brain, elkhorn and staghorn corals, the primary reef builders critical to the health of the habitat.... Coral bleaching, a malady that has swept Florida, Caribbean and Australian reefs in the last year, whitens and weakens coral and is blamed on unusually warm water that some scientists attribute to global warming.... Reef Relief, a non-profit Florida Keys environmental group, began warning of the reef's demise in 1987. It blames the damage on a lack of effective federal protection, global warming, agricultural pollution runoff from the Florida Everglades and cruise ship sewage.... Read more at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060705/us_nm/environment_coral_dc ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
