Coral reefs around the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia are dying at rates that may be the worst ever recorded. Since 1998 this has been the worst coral die-off with an alarming 80% of species dead. The coral triangle has been named the "Amazon rainforest of the seas" due to the diversity of the marine ecosystem found. The bleaching of the coral could possibly be due to a mass of abnormally hot water which moved into the Indian Ocean several months ago. When algae is gone, corals starve and appear white/bleached. Scientist believe the affected areas could end up hurting fish and tourist industries over the long term as dead reefs support less marine life than live ones.
Human-induced global warming for the decline of the corals and said action must be taken to reduce carbon emissions that help retain heat in the atmosphere. In the end, everything in an ecosystem is connected so the corals being affected will end up affecting the stability of a region. It is sad to see more and more examples every day of how global warming is starting to affect our environment, it is only a matter of time until it starts affecting us directly.
Link to site: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/20/scientist-human-induced-global-warming-killing-corals/?hpt=Sbin
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