|
|
Article: In hot water: coral reefs at risk.
- Article from:
- Animals
- Article date:
- March 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
In 1850, the U.S. government sent a researcher to southern Florida to see if anything could be done to "get rid" of troublesome coral reefs in the region. The reefs were being blamed for numerous boat groundings and shipwrecks. Fortunately, government officials concluded that instead of trying to remove the reefs, they would erect lighthouses throughout the Florida Keys to keep ships in safe waters.
Today those same reefs--and reefs around the globe--are once again under threat, reports John McManus, marine biologist at the University of Miami and director of the National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research. And now the menace comes from a complex series of ...