{"id":3345,"date":"2013-12-16T10:15:39","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T15:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/?p=3345"},"modified":"2024-03-05T10:29:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:29:28","slug":"mote-israeli-workshop-advances-study-of-ocean-acidification-climate-change-and-coral-reefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/news\/mote-israeli-workshop-advances-study-of-ocean-acidification-climate-change-and-coral-reefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mote-Israeli Workshop Advances Study of Ocean Acidification, Climate Change and Coral Reefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers from six nations gather for the 1st International Workshop on Impacts of Ocean Acidification and Climate Change on Corals and Coral Reefs, which was led by Mote Marine Laboratory and the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel and took place Dec. 6-10 in Eilat. The workshop allowed top scientists with many different specialties to team up for a marathon of intensive, novel studies focusing on the environmental changes that threaten coral reefs worldwide. (Credit: Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences)<\/p>\n

Research on ocean acidification and climate change \u2014 major threats to coral reefs \u2014 took a leap forward during a recent international workshop in Israel, where scientists and students from six nations exchanged knowledge and partnered for a marathon of intensive, novel studies.<\/p>\n

The 1st International Workshop on Impacts of Ocean Acidification and Climate Change on Corals and Coral Reefs was co-hosted by Mote Marine Laboratory, which is based in Sarasota, Fla., and the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences (IUI) in Eilat, Israel. It took place Dec. 6-10 in Eilat and brought together participants from the\u00a0Germany, Israel, Italy, the\u00a0Netherlands,\u00a0the U.K. and the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cMote is committed to enhancing our ability to conduct innovative studies on, and serve as a global research center for partnering with others to examine impacts of ocean acidification on the resiliency and recovery of coral reef ecosystems,\u201d said Dr. Michael P. Crosby, President and CEO of Mote. \u201cWe were, therefore, pleased to join with our colleagues at the Interuniversity Institute to invite a diverse international group of trailblazing researchers and next-generation scientists to put their heads together, share what they\u2019ve learned and move their fields forward with some of the most novel experiments to date on these global threats to coral reefs. We\u2019re thrilled with the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Amatzia Genin, IUI Scientific Director, said he shared Crosby\u2019s excitement. \u201cThis gathering of world-leading researchers and students to study ocean acidification and climate change effects on corals is unprecedented scientifically and socially. We expect these studies, which use a unique experimental facility located less that 100 yards from a flourishing Red Sea reef, will shed new light on biological processes driven by global change and provide an outstanding motivation to expand this unique international collaboration for the benefit of the world\u2019s coral reefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corals around the globe are facing environmental stress that causes them to lose their symbiotic algae through a process called coral bleaching, and eventually die. Such stress may also be causing significant shifts in the microbial communities living in the marine environment, potentially putting the health of corals and other life forms at risk.<\/p>\n

Some of the greatest environmental stressors on Earth are being caused by emissions of carbon dioxide. These threats are climate change and ocean acidification \u2014 the lowering of ocean pH when carbon dioxide dissolves into the sea. This water chemistry change is often called the \u201costeoporosis of the sea\u201d because it is expected to weaken and even dissolve calcium carbonate structures such as coral skeletons and mollusk shells, and it may affect a wide swath of other marine animals and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

During the recent workshop, participants conducted lab and field experiments with corals and associated life forms from the Red Sea to study how ocean acidification and climate change might relate to:<\/p>\n