|
Take a Photo TourIf you didn't know, every region has a Flickr page with some great imagery - so does our National Digital Library (along with lots of other cool things). Here's a quick photo tour of our regions. Enjoy! These Mexican spotted owls, listed as threatened, rest in a canyon in Utah, in the Mountain Prairie Region. Rock walls with caves, ledges, and other areas provide protected nest and roost sites.
Hawaii: Developing Options for Coral Reef Management in a Changing Climate
Tropical coral reefs are among the world’s most diverse ecosystems, harboring thousands of species in a complex community built by living corals. But in the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands, as elsewhere, these ecosystems are declining because of human impacts, including climate change. “Coral reefs are on the front line of climate change,” explains Jeff Burgett, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and science manager for the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC), a conservation research coalition based in Honolulu and part of a national network of 21 such cooperatives. “Scientists around the world are documenting severe impacts to reefs from warming seas, and the lowering pH of the oceans will hurt their ability to recover.” In the Pacific, where the Service manages more than one million acres of coral reef habitat in 11 refuges, including the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Service scientists are seeking ways to reduce coral vulnerability. High water temperatures stress corals, causing them to expel the algae they normally shelter and nourish. These algae do more than give coral their vivid colors; they also release glucose needed for healthy coral function. Without the symbiotic algae, the white skeleton of the translucent coral animal is exposed. Intense coral bleaching often leads to coral death, as the coral starves without the algae; even corals that regain their algae are weakened, and often succumb to opportunistic diseases. |
|
