Monday, November 19, 2012

Great Barrier Reef Collapse Triggered by Farm Run Off





 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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