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| Indian corals may see decline in the next 30 years |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Dec 10, 2009, 17:56 IST |
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Global climate change may be showing its impact on the Indian shores as scientists report that coral reefs around the country could see their severe decline starting in the next three to four decades, resulting from increase in the sea temperature.
Not only coral reefs around Lakshadweep, four other regions around Indian coastline -- Andaman, Nicobar, Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Mannar -- which have majority of Indian coral reefs are also facing extreme threat resulting from changes in the temperature of the sea.
A team of researchers led by Dr E Vivekanandan at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi used data produced by Nobel prize winning IPCC and projected that an increase in sea surface temperature will induce coral bleaching -- a phenomenon in which corals lose their micro-organisms that give them vibrant colours and nutrition.
Rise in sea surface temperature can increase frequency of such events which could ultimately weaken the reefs and damage corals in the Indian sea, Vivekanandan said.
"The IPCC has projected that at the end of this century, the increase in the sea surface temperature could be 2.5 degrees Celsius. We have seen that Indian seas have become warmer in the last 50 years. If this trend continues and corals are not able to adapt, we will see this change happening," Vivekanandan said.
Once bleaching starts on a coral reef, it tends to continue for some time, even if inducing parameters become normal. If the coral colony survives this period, it takes years for the micro-organisms to come back and restore its colours and vitality.
Scientists fear that in the event of increasing sea temperatures crossing the threshold limits, these events will take place with increased frequency.
"In the Gulf of Kutch, the annual average SST may increase from 27.0 degrees Celsius in 2000 to 30.5 degrees in 2099 and in the Lakshadweep Sea from 29.2 degree Celsius to 32.2 degrees Celsius. This shows that the annual average SST may increase by 3.0 degree Celsius to 3.5 degree Celsius in the Indian seas," the paper published in the latest edition of the journal of 'Current Science' says.
The paper says given the implication that reefs will not be able to sustain catastrophic events (like bleaching) more than three times a decade, reef building corals may begin to decline between 2020 and 2040.
"The reef building corals would lose dominance between 2030 and 2040 in the Lakshadweep region and between 2050 and 2060 in the Andaman and Nicobar regions and the Gulf of Mannar," the scientists reported.
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