Coral has nothing to fear from CO2 (the Australian): “A
WIDESPREAD belief that the world’s coral reefs face a calamitous
future due to climate change is proving less resilient than the
natural wonders themselves. Rising sea temperatures, storm
damage and ocean acidification have grabbed the headlines as
looming threats to reef survival. But as each concern is more
thoroughly investigated, scientists are finding nature better
equipped to cope than they had imagined. The latest research,
published in Nature: Climate Change today, blows away the theory
that reefs were doomed due to rising ocean acidification caused
by the higher take-up of carbon dioxide in the seas. Researchers
have found a common coralline algae that grows at the leading
edge of coral reefs is not nearly as susceptible to changing ph
levels as coral because it contains high levels of dolomite. In
fact, the dolomite-laden algae has a rate of dissolution six to
10 times lower than coral’s. The good news is that dolomite-rich
coralline algae is c