Thread: Eighty percent of Thai coral reefs begins to bleach

BANGKOK, 11 June 2016 (NNT) - The Marine and Coastal Resources Department found out 80 percent of Thailand's coral reefs, mainly hump corals, has begun to bleach after sea temperature has reached 32 degrees Celsius.

Marine and Coastal Resources Research and Development Center Director Pinsak Surassavadee quoted the International Scientific Organization as saying coral bleaching in Thailand this year is likely to be more severe than in 2010, which recorded one of the worst cases of the world's coral bleaching.

The worsened condition of the Thai coral reefs has been remarked with the bleaching like those in Australia, which also has had the most severe bleaching ever recorded in history. Bleaching has been detected in 90 percent of all reefs in Australia, including the Great Barrier Reef area which is the world's largest coral reef formation.

Ninety percent of a 400-meter-long coral reef in Trat’s Ao Thammachart bay recently bleached at a depth of 10-30 centimeters. Another 20 to 25 percent of coral bleaching has been identified in Chumporn province.

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Bleaching, Does it mean losing all its colour. Dying.

Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.

Not all bleaching events are due to warm water.
In January 2010, cold water temperatures in the Florida Keys caused a coral bleaching event that resulted in some coral death. Water temperatures dropped 12.06 degrees Fahrenheit lower than the typical temperatures observed at this time of year. Researchers will evaluate if this cold-stress event will make corals more susceptible to disease in the same way that warmer waters impact corals.

Originally Posted by Latindancer

When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

The coral is not dead, immediately, but since the algae are symbiotic, sustained absence of the algae will result in the coral's death.....prolonged rise in temperature will result in coral mortality.

We can only hope that the algae will evolve. A realistic hope.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

We can only hope that the algae will evolve. A realistic hope.

Even for Thai algae?

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

Originally Posted by Maanaam

We can only hope that the algae will evolve. A realistic hope.

Even for Thai algae?

Thai algae? Don't start me off on Thai algae. No that useless detritus is probably asexual and can't be bothered finding coral to attach itself to because its useless chicken head upbringing has ...etc...etc..etc..

Thanks Latindancer.