Sunscreen Hurts Coral Reefs

Not just pretty: end of reefs often signals mass extinction events

(NEWSER) - Climate change and the acidification of the oceans—along with overfishing, coastal development, and pollution—will destroy the Earth's coral reefs in as little as 30 years, reports the Independent . The mass-bleaching in the Indian Ocean in 1998 alone destroyed 16% of the world's reefs in just a few weeks. "We've wiped out a lot of species over the years. This will be the first time we've actually eliminated an entire ecosystem," claims Peter Sale, a marine ecologist at United Nations University, whose new book, Our Dying Planet: An Ecologist's View of the Crisis We Face , is published tomorrow. More»

Coral yields compound that prevents UV damage

(NEWSER) - Coral from Australia's Great Barrier Reef has yielded a compound that could put a lot of sunscreen makers out of business. Researchers discovered that algae living in the coral created a compound that acts as a sunscreen to protect both the algae and the coral from the sun's rays. They say they are close to synthesizing the compound in the lab, and a pill to prevent both sunburn and eye damage could be on the market within 5 years, the Telegraph reports. More»

Human activity is rapidly wiping out marine life, panel warns

(NEWSER) - Human activity has degraded the world's oceans with dizzying speed and a mass extinction of marine life only seen five times before in the planet's history is likely if urgent action is not taken, a panel of marine experts warns. The International Program on the State of the Oceans panel, made of experts from a variety of disciplines, found that issues such as climate change, overfishing, acidification, and pollution are acting together to accelerate the rate of change, reports the BBC. More»

Country-sized growth threatens marine life

(NEWSER) - Record-breaking temperatures combined with farm run-off have caused an evil-smelling algae bloom the size of Germany to sprout in the Baltic Sea. The World Wildlife Fund warns that the algae explosion—the biggest in the region since 2005—endangers human as well as marine life, the Independent reports. The group blames over-fertilization of farmland in the area, encouraged by governments which have reneged on promises to cut fertilizer use. More»

(NEWSER) - Snorkelers and scuba divers aren’t the worst threat to the embattled coral reefs of the world—climate change, commercial fishing, and pollution take top honors—but the casual tourist can lessen, and even mitigate, the damage he or she causes, Slate reports. Of course, snorkelers shouldn’t purposefully snap off pieces of the majestic underwater life forms. But carelessly dragging equipment across coral, or walking on it, while looking for a better view is equally destructive. More»