Rising Sea Temperature Poses Threat to Coral Reefs
April 17, 2015
“After that, most of the coral reefs will die,” said Purwanto during the Lesser Sunda Ecoregion Marine Conservancy Workshop which was held by the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists and TNC in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday.
The coral reefs are marine creatures that live in the shallow waters up to 100-meter depth under the temperature of 20 to 29 Celsius degrees.
In the occasion, Purwanto revealed the trend of temperature-increase on the surface waters of Jailolo Island, Raja Ampat in Papua. In 2010, the temperature of the waters exceeded 29 Celsius degrees since the month February up to December. Under this circumstance, the coral reefs would exert zooxanthellae, a nicroagae that lives in mutually on the corals.
“If the corals have Zooxanthellae, they will lose their color,” Purwanto added.
Therefore, the determination of conservancy area has taken resilience of the area against climate change into account, in addition to the reason for protecting critical location and species.
source: tempo.co
