eli5 Why cant coral reefs just move further away from the equator If there losing there habitat to warmer sea temperatures?
In: Planetary Science
Corals take a long time to grow, are often dependent on currents that carry water and nutrients, and often require fairly shallow water by ocean standards at least, and there is limited real estate where all these conditions are met.
Coral reefs take a very long time to grow to the massive size they are. The coral itself isn’t a mobile creature, so it can’t just up and move.
Other commenters have touched on coral’s slow growth as a limiting factor, but I’d also like to bring up that temperature isn’t the only thing impacting coral reefs. One of the other big ones is a thing called ocean acidification, which is when high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are partially absorbed by the sea water, causing it to become more acidic which can result in all sorts of health issues for sea life, especially calcifying organisms like coral.
That’s like saying a forest could move to a different continent. Coral reef growth is slow and they’re pretty much stuck where they are.
Among the other reasons stated, I believe it is not just warmth, but a changing PH of the ocean that is contributing to their demise. The ocean absorbs a ton of CO2, and that makes it more acidic over time.
Doing so would likely upset the ecosystem of the new place they move to if they could. Just look at introducing wolves to Yellowstone and see how much they decimated the deer population there( which was a good thing).
They can. It just takes time.
That’s the big problem with man made climate change. Unlike natural cycles, which occur over thousands of years, giving flora and fauna time to adapt with the changing climate, man made climate change is basically instant from a geological perspective.
It’s mass upheaval and mass extinctions.
It’s not only about temperature (even if they can move that fast). They need to be in shallow water for their algae to photosynthesize.
A whole forest can’t get up and move a bunch of miles away. The same can be said for reefs. They grow, like, a few centimeters every year? It would take years to make any progress in moving. On top of that, it’s not just the temperature that is the problem. (Although I’m fairly sure that it is a big one.)
Why can’t you and every person in your city each move your whole house to avoid a flood, earthquake, tsunami, or other natural disaster? Just move your city to a new location that won’t be affected!
Coral reefs are *anchored to the floor*. They are rocks full of tiny living creatures that can’t survive in just any old part of the ocean. It takes centuries for them to grow, and mere years for them to die.
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