Wednesday, October 03, 2012

AUSTRALIA - Half of Great Barrier Reef Gone

"Storms, Starfish and Warmer Waters Wiped out Half of Great Barrier Reef Coral" PBS Newshour 10/2/2012

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): ..... what's happening to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. A new study finds that one of the world's great natural wonders and its largest coral system is in decline.

Researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science say the reef has lost half of its coral cover over the past 27 years. There are multiple causes, including a destructive kind of starfish, shown here.

We look at what's behind it and what's at stake in Australia and around the world with Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist and the chair of Marine science at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History right here in Washington.

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