Plenty of folks have tried to link problems on the Great Barrier Reef
to global warming which ran pretty thin. Now we get an explanation
that certainly works very well and is much more convincing.
Nutrient run off is a huge problem of the last century and will
continue for some time yet. However adoption of the biochar protocol
will in time end the problem completely. So while it is a present
problem it is also a problem that will end.
At the same time I do expect to see farming generally adopt organic
methods and that will also eliminate excess nutrient run off.
So two major trends are in place that will suppress the problem.
Australia reef
collapse blamed on farming
by Staff Writers
Brisbane, Australia (UPI) Nov 6, 2012
An "autopsy"
performed on Australia's Great Barrier Reef found nutrient-rich
runoff from farms caused parts of the reef to collapse, researchers
say.
Scientists at the
University of Queensland in Brisbane took cores from three reef sites
and determined corals collapsed between the 1920s and 1950s,
NewScientist.com reported.
Two of the sites had
little coral left after the 1950s, while the third had been colonized
since then by different types, researchers said.
By the 1920s, European
settlers were farming intensively near rivers flowing onto the reef,
boosting agricultural run-off that killed coral, the researchers
said.
And the extra
nutrients in the water help seaweed move in afterwards, preventing
coral from regenerating, Terry Done of the Australian Institute of
Marine Science in Townsville, Queensland, said.
The researchers say
their work showed the reefs had been in pristine condition prior to
the 1920s.
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