bleaching, and infectious disease outbreaks are likely to become
more frequent. Additionally, carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed into
the ocean from the atmosphere has already begun to reduce
calcification rates in reef-building and reef-associated
organisms by altering sea water chemistry through decreases in
pH (ocean acidification). In the long term, failure to address
carbon emissions and the resultant impacts of rising
temperatures and ocean acidification could make many other coral
ecosystem management efforts futile. Climate change impacts have
been identified as one of the greatest global threats to coral
reef ecosystems. As temperature rise, mass | Climate change and
ocean acidification have been identified by many groups as the
most important threat to coral reefs on a global basis. In 2007,
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that
the evidence is now "unequivocal" that the earth's atmosphere
and oceans are warming. They concluded that these changes are
primarily due to anthropogen