Great Barrier Reef will be gone in 20 years, says Charlie Veron

[nightfire76]

remember reefs like many other things in life ajust and evolve,they have for many years before us and will after us.there are some wales that travel from as far south as areas of south america all the way to close the the north pole cause of the seasons to eat krill which is all they eat,if at some point it doesnt evolve to eating other things then at some point itll die out,though im sure it wont happen because no matter what,nature is smater then humans

[Jeremy0322]

Originally Posted by nightfire76

remember reefs like many other things in life ajust and evolve,they have for many years before us and will after us.there are some wales that travel from as far south as areas of south america all the way to close the the north pole cause of the seasons to eat krill which is all they eat,if at some point it doesnt evolve to eating other things then at some point itll die out,though im sure it wont happen because no matter what,nature is smater then humans

This is true, but you are not looking at the big picture in that example. For the sake of this lets say the whales dont exist. What else do you know of that survives off of krill? Its pretty much one of the bottom staples in many of the food chains in the ocean, and with things like temp change and rising CO2 levels as fast as they are happening right now, if something is not changed then there could be series problems. Krill are eaten by many fish, penguins, seals, whales, and some birds directly. However, thing of the animals that eat those animals, such as other marine mammals, birds, bigger fish, sharks, etc. Its easy to see how far a loss like this can stretch. I found this looking around the net.

http://www.utas.edu.au/events/Media%...0FOR%20WEB.pdf

The excess CO2 will have an effect on Calcium Carbonate, which is what many of these small Crustaceans rely on this to create their exoskeletons, meaning juveniles can not become adults, no reproduction, bottom of the food chain is knocked out.

[johnmaloney]

but what about things like plankton blooms to take down co2? i wonder how far the ph was changed to reverse the calcium carbonate process, did he reach calcium reactor type levels?

[Green Gills]

This is very True they have been discussing it in Australia for a few years i have dived on the reef 3 times (off Townsville) And its such a untouched world pristine. **Bleaching** its slowly happening now. It would be very sad to loose a world wonder
*Aussie*