RISING levels of greenhouse gases may not be quite as bad for coral reefs as was thought. A team of Australian scientists say that the damage done by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the oceans will be offset by warmer waters, which will make coral grow faster. But other researchers counter that warming will do more harm than good.
An increase in the amount of dissolved CO2 reduces the levels of calcium and carbonate ions in seawater, which are needed to make corals. But no one had studied the effect of rising water temperature on corals.
So Ben…
