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TODAY Monday 22 December 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
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TODAY Monday 22 December 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
TODAY IN THE WORLD: Save the Reefs
Is there a more vexing ecological problem than the degradation of the world's coral reefs? As a visitor to Mary Miller's coral reef High Five can attest, the problems is real, the scientists diligent, the definitive answers few. Ingenious and plausible theories are advanced ("Coral Reefs of the Sahara"), but there appears to be no magic-bullet single explanation for the decline.
Recently our underwater correspondent Bill Belleville contributed an interesting piece describing how scuba fanatics were emulating amateur birdwatchers and coming up with a marine census. Called Reef Check, the findings are just coming in.
A two-page spread by Willie Howard in yesterday's Palm Beach Post reveals some of the preliminary findings:
- Living coral covers 31% of the reefs surveyed around the world. The Red Sea had the highest proportion of coral cover (97%); the Caribbean had the lowest (22%).
- Algae cover turned out to be less of a problem than feared; too many nutrients coming from sewage pollution was not a factor in most of the reefs surveyed.
- 45% of the reefs themselves were described as having no or low human impacts. But there was a near-universal drop in the populations of fish and shellfish found in and around reefs.
- The reefs of the Florida Keys are in dramatic decline. A study of 160 reef sites between Key Largo and Key West showed that 94 sites had diseased corals -- a 200% increase over 1996. The number of diseased coral species tripled. "We are really stunned," said the professor who headed the Keys study.
Here are some places to go to for more information:
- for the global survey: Reef Check
- for the International Year of the Reef: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- for an informative non-profit: Reefkeeper International
Most of us have environmental causes that touch us in ways that seem non-rational (no bad thing). Speaking as a non-scuba-diving northern city person, the loss of coral reefs -- and the gorgeous varieties of life they embody and nurture -- strikes me as indescribably poignant, a macro-bummer if ever there was one. Might even write a check.
TODAY ON THE SITE
So much new you could plotz, as the Irish say. The man who resists pigeonholes -- Fred Hapgood -- contributes an op ed on an internet search for The Sublime. Joel Grossman writes an op ed on weeds and herbicides that says that David Tenenbaum's earlier piece on the same subject is, well, wrong. And Deborah Knight can't resist the chance to send up Santa's visit to good little Websters. Plus a new summary of the Kyoto Conference by Leonie Haimson in the climate change feature of our In The Trenches section. Whew! We'll have even more material up tomorrow morning, then settle in for some Yuletide torpor. Stay tuned.
Recent "Today" columns:
12/19: Mousemobile
12/18: Year of Fire
12/17: Ramblin' Man (Ramblin' Woman)
12/16: Big News on the Margins
12/15: The Hybrid As Savior
12/12: Good Week for the Dragon
12/11: Help Wanted: Unreasonable Extremists
12/10: Oh Boy! A Fight!
12/9: Running Away From It All
12/8: "What I Wouldn't Give for This War to End."
12/5: Feisty Euros at Kyoto
12/4: Beauty in the Bronx
12/3: God from Machine
12/2: Gentlemen's Bet
12/1: Public Opinion
11/26: Sperm
11/25: Sound Sound-Bite Science
11/24: Home Sweet Storage Locker
11/21: Tim Wirth's Inscrutable Adventure
11/20: Better to Receive than to Give
11/19: Wes Jackson's Problem with Agriculture
11/18: "Stay Home and Be Decent"
To access more "Today" columns, click "Archives" below.