1月2日的《科学》杂志报道说，自1990年以来，澳大利亚大堡礁中珊瑚的生长就已经减缓至过去 400年来的最低水平。这一发现可能意味着与该礁石有关的无数海洋生态系统以及全世界其它的钙化生物体都有了麻烦。
澳大利亚海洋科学研究所（AIMS）Glenn De’ath和同事对69个不同珊瑚礁中的大块状的Porites珊瑚的328个群体进行了调查。研究表明：全球暖化、海水 pH值的下降以及其中碳酸盐浓度的下降是造成这种情况的原因。研究人员说，珊瑚骨骼纪录表明，在整个大堡礁中，这些珊瑚的钙化（即碳酸钙的沉积）自1990年以来已经下降了13.3%。由于这些珊瑚礁对数万种其它海洋生物的生态系统和食物网的形成及功能至关重要，因此研究人员表示，全世界海洋中的生物多元性及产生速率的改变似乎已经临近了。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Science，DOI: 10.1126/science.1165283，Glenn De'ath，Katharina E. Fabricius
Declining Coral Calcification on the Great Barrier Reef
Glenn De'ath,* Janice M. Lough, Katharina E. Fabricius
Reef-building corals are under increasing physiological stress from a changing climate and ocean absorption of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. We investigated 328 colonies of massive Porites corals from 69 reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia. Their skeletal records show that throughout the GBR, calcification has declined by 14.2% since 1990, predominantly because extension (linear growth) has declined by 13.3%. The data suggest that such a severe and sudden decline in calcification is unprecedented in at least the past 400 years. Calcification increases linearly with increasing large-scale sea surface temperature but responds nonlinearly to annual temperature anomalies. The causes of the decline remain unknown; however, this study suggests that increasing temperature stress and a declining saturation state of seawater aragonite may be diminishing the ability of GBR corals to deposit calcium carbonate.
Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.
