1月2日的《科學》雜志報道說,，自1990年以來,，澳大利亞大堡礁中珊瑚的生長就已經(jīng)減緩至過去 400年來的最低水平,。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可能意味著與該礁石有關(guān)的無數(shù)海洋生態(tài)系統(tǒng)以及全世界其它的鈣化生物體都有了麻煩。
澳大利亞海洋科學研究所（AIMS）Glenn De’ath和同事對69個不同珊瑚礁中的大塊狀的Porites珊瑚的328個群體進行了調(diào)查,。研究表明：全球暖化,、海水 pH值的下降以及其中碳酸鹽濃度的下降是造成這種情況的原因。研究人員說,，珊瑚骨骼紀錄表明,，在整個大堡礁中，這些珊瑚的鈣化（即碳酸鈣的沉積）自1990年以來已經(jīng)下降了13.3%,。由于這些珊瑚礁對數(shù)萬種其它海洋生物的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)和食物網(wǎng)的形成及功能至關(guān)重要,，因此研究人員表示，全世界海洋中的生物多元性及產(chǎn)生速率的改變似乎已經(jīng)臨近了,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science,，DOI: 10.1126/science.1165283，Glenn De'ath,，Katharina E. Fabricius
Declining Coral Calcification on the Great Barrier Reef
Glenn De'ath,* Janice M. Lough, Katharina E. Fabricius
Reef-building corals are under increasing physiological stress from a changing climate and ocean absorption of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. We investigated 328 colonies of massive Porites corals from 69 reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia. Their skeletal records show that throughout the GBR, calcification has declined by 14.2% since 1990, predominantly because extension (linear growth) has declined by 13.3%. The data suggest that such a severe and sudden decline in calcification is unprecedented in at least the past 400 years. Calcification increases linearly with increasing large-scale sea surface temperature but responds nonlinearly to annual temperature anomalies. The causes of the decline remain unknown; however, this study suggests that increasing temperature stress and a declining saturation state of seawater aragonite may be diminishing the ability of GBR corals to deposit calcium carbonate.
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.
