Gaia In Action: Coral Reefs Have Inbuilt Mechanism That Adapts To Local Temperature – ‘Can release chemical that helps them engineer their environment and stave off warming’
Gaia In Action: Coral Reefs Have Inbuilt Mechanism That Adapts To Local Temperature
http://www.thegwpf.org/gaia-action-coral-reefs-inbuilt-mechanism-adapts-local-temperature/
New research has found that coral can release a chemical that helps them engineer their environment and stave off warming.
Coral reefs are on the receiving end of the battering ram that is anthropogenic climate change. With their vibrant colors and exotic fish, they’re the poster child of ocean degradation, and they get a lot of attention because they’re on the front lines—their habitats are among the most sensitive to the warming waters.
But new research, led by Jean-Baptiste Raina, has found that coral are fighting back: coral can release a chemical, dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP), that helps them engineer their environment and stave off global warming.
When DMSP is released to the environment, bacteria living in the water convert it into a different related gas, dimethylsulphide (DMS). DMS, the scientists say, can control the local climate by spurring clouds to form. More DMS means more clouds, and more clouds means cooler ocean waters for the coral to live in.
The discovery marks the first time that an animal has been found to produce DMSP. Previously, scientists thought it was the algae living in the coral that made the gas, but the new research found that the coral itself can churn it out. And, perhaps more importantly, corals’ DMSP production goes up when the coral gets stressed.
The idea of “DMS-as-climate-regulator,” says Hannah Waters for her blog, Culturing Science, “rose to fame when it starred in one infamous Earth-as-organism idea—the Gaia hypothesis—just a few decades ago.”
The Gaia hypothesis, pitched by James Lovelock, is largely bunk (sic), but dimethylsulphide’s effect on the temperature is not. “In order for clouds to form, water has to transition from a gas to liquid—and to do that, it needs a small particle in the air to adhere onto, known as a cloud condensation nucleus. Sulfur aerosols, which are easily formed from DMS, do the trick,” says Waters.
Full story
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New paper shows ocean ‘acidification’ was naturally about the same during the last interglacial period as today – Published in Quaternary Science Reviews
New paper shows ocean ‘acidification’ was about the same during the last interglacial period as today
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-paper-shows-ocean-acidification-was.html
A paper published today in Quaternary Science Reviews shows that reconstructed ocean pH during the last [Eemian] interglacial 130,000-114,000 years ago was naturally about the same as today [estimated alkaline pH of 8.14]. The paper also shows that the snail shell degradation index [LDX] was faster/greater during the last interglacial period than modern times, and increased at a faster rate during the last interglacial period than modern times. Thus, natural ocean ‘acidification’ was about the same as today, but increased at a faster rate and had a greater effect on dissolving shells during the last interglacial period in comparison to modern times.
The paper once again demonstrates alarmist claims about ocean ‘acidification’ are overblown.
Second graph from top shows reconstructed ocean pH was about the same during the last interglacial 130,000 – 114,000 years ago as today [estimated at 8.14 pH]. The snail shell degradation index [LDX] shown in bottom graph was faster/greater during the last interglacial period than modern times, and increased at a faster rate during the last interglacial period than modern times.
In-life pteropod shell dissolution as an indicator of past ocean carbonate saturation
Deborah Wall-Palmer, ,
Christopher W. Smart,
Malcolm B. Hart
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Highlights
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In-life dissolution of fossil pteropod shells was examined using the LDX scale.
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Average shell diameter was used as an indicator of calcification rate.
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LDX shows significant correlation to CO2 and surface water carbonate concentration.
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Smaller, more corroded shells were found during interglacial periods.
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Larger, pristine shells were found during glacial periods.
Abstract
Recent concern over the effects of ocean acidification upon calcifying organisms has highlighted the aragonitic shelled thecosomatous pteropods as being at a high risk. Both in-situ and laboratory studies have shown that an increased dissolved CO2 concentration, leading to decreased water pH and low carbonate concentration, causes reduced calcification rates and enhanced dissolution in the shells of living pteropods. In fossil records unaffected by post-depositional dissolution, this in-life shell dissolution can be detected. Here we present the first evidence of variations of in-life pteropod shell dissolution due to variations in surface water carbonate concentration during the Late Pleistocene by analysing the surface layer of pteropod shells in marine sediment cores from the Caribbean Sea and Indian …
New Warmist Fear: Global warming causing the oceans to lose their smell! Oceans unique odor is a ‘smell that’s endangered by climate change’ — ‘The real horror might be raising kids in a world where the only place you can smell the ocean is Bath & Bodyworks.’
…Global Warming Causes Warm/Cold, Wet/Dry, Bigger/Smaller Lobsters
Global Warming Causes Warm/Cold, Wet/Dry, Bigger/Smaller Lobsters
http://junkscience.com/2013/07/25/global-warming-causes-warmcold-wetdry-biggersmaller-lobsters
Promoters of man-caused global warming unleash yet another irreconcilable problem for themselves. First we have this day-old news item “Global warming is causing lobsters to become cannibals” telling us, … rising sea temperatures brought on by global warming are encouraging the crustaceans to grow quicker and reproduce more often, says Noah Oppenheim, a marine biology […]
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Climatologist Dr. Judith Curry on Sen. Boxer’s key warmist expert on ocean acidification: ‘Doney’s [Senate] testimony didn’t score too high on my credibility meter’
Ocean acidification discussion thread | Climate Etc. http://judithcurry.com/2013/07/19/ocean-acidification-discussion-thread/
Curry cites Idso’s research: ‘Are coral reefs really in their last decades of existence? Will the shells of other calcifying marine life also dissolve away during our lifetimes? The NRDC film certainly makes it appear that such is the case; but a little scientific sleuthing reveals nothing of substance in this regard. In fact, even a cursory review of the peer-reviewed scientific literature reveals that an equally strong case – if not a more persuasive one – can be made for the proposition that the ongoing rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration will actually prove a boon to calcifying marine life. Sadly, however, the NRDC chose to present an extreme one-sided, propagandized view of ocean acidification’…
New Australian study: Marine algae species adapts to climate change, contrary to what was assumed until now
…Aussie’s ABC lets Bill McKibben get away with barking nonsense — ‘Really one degree is utter catastrophe’
WHAT TONY JONES COULD HAVE ASKED: Yet Antarctic sea ice has hit record highs. Ocean pH measurements are even more uncertain that ones on ocean temperature. A “30%” range on a logarithmic scale is not as significant as it sounds, especially when ocean pH varies naturally by that much each day in some places, and many corals and fish seem quite capable of adapting. As far as drought and flood go, Australia has always had both, there were waves of 50-plus temperatures right across Australia in the 1800′s. Most climate scientists admit there is no concrete evidence at all that current floods and droughts or storms are on the increase, let alone that it’s caused by CO2?…
Yes, Let’s Please Have More Conversations About Global Warming
…Bummer: Professor Richard Twitchett suggests that CO2 ‘may cause the extinction of marine life’
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Warmist Claim: Oyster larvae in acidic water ‘akin to young children eating lead-paint chips’
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