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IMAGE: Carnegie s Manoela Romanó de Orte and Ken Caldeira led a research team that deployed a cutting-edge incubator to monitor the metabolic activity of coral and algae in an area of. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Ken Caldeira.
Washington, DC Algae colonizing dead coral are upending scientists ability to accurately assess the health of a coral reef community, according to new work from a team of marine science experts led by Carnegie s Manoela Romanó de Orte and Ken Caldeira. Their findings are published in
Limnology and Oceanography.
Corals are marine invertebrates that build tiny exoskeletons, which accumulate to form giant coral reefs. Widely appreciated for their beauty, these reefs are havens for biodiversity and crucial for the economies of many coastal communities. But they are endangered by ocean warming, seawater acidification, extreme storms, pollution, and overfishing.
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Over the course of Earth’s history, several mass extinction events have destroyed ecosystems, including one that famously wiped out the dinosaurs. But none were as devastating as “The Great Dying,” which took place 252 million years ago during the end of the Permian period.
A new study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows in detail how life recovered in comparison to two smaller extinction events.
The international study team composed of researchers from the China University of Geosciences, the California Academy of Sciences, the University of Bristol, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed for the first time that the end-Permian mass extinction was harsher than other events due to a major collapse in diversity.
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It’s official: The two-month-long Coachella Valley biennial known as Desert X will not include a relocated Judy Chicago piece, the artist has told The Times, and the cancellation of the work is threatening a smoke sculpture planned for San Francisco’s de Young museum in mid-October.
Chicago’s Desert X smoke sculpture and performance, “Living Smoke: A Tribute to the Living Desert,” was supposed to take place in April over 1,200 acres at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. The Palm Desert organization, which had approved the work,
canceled it after activist, longtime local resident and former Times staffer Ann Japenga raised concerns about the artwork’s effects on the animals in the region.