New coral Web site

The World Ocean Observatory launch a new coral Web site with "media-rich features videos and podcasts, reports and forums, educational materials and more to explain and highlight the state of the world’s coral reefs."

The introduction to the site says:

Coral reefs have been called the rainforests of the sea, though given their iconic status as the most colorful and diverse places on earth, it would be perhaps more apt to call rainforests the coral reefs of the land!

Reefs have been critically important in furthering our understanding of marine ecology and nature in general - the delicate balances between reef inhabitants have taught us much about how the world works and how human activity can upset the web of life. Tropical reefs have great value to humans, not just as treasures seascapes (that generate revenues for neighboring coastal communities all around the world), but also as sources of food, as providers of materials, as beach-forming agents and as natural buffers from storms and tsunamis, and as repositories of pharmaceutical compounds for treating human disease.

Yet despite this great value, coral reefs are rapidly becoming degraded. Over-fishing, pollution, fertilizers, and other anthropogenic sources, poorly planned or uncontrolled coastal development, and climate change effects like warming and ocean acidification are taking their toll on reefs. Some predict the disappearance of reefs as we know them in just a few short decades, unless action is taken to improve reef health today…