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Coral Reef Health & Interaction with the Global C Cycle
Jeffrey
Koseff, Civil & Env. Eng.
Robert
Dunbar, Geological & Env. Sci.
.
The healthy functioning of coral reefs is of great
importance, not only because of their amazing
beauty, but also for the numerous marine organisms
that comprise a reef's ecological community. One
of the most important geological and biological
functions in the growth of coral reef ecosystems
is the sedimentation and accretion of calcium
carbonate. This process coupled with photosynthesis
by algae (among others) enables reef systems to
grow at remarkable rates.
The geochemistry associated with the calcium carbonate
cycle can result in releases of aqueous carbon
dioxide (CO2 ) into tissues and reef waters (the
reef as a source) , or the uptake of aqueous CO2
from the water column and from plant and animal
tissues (the reef as a sink). Some recent studies
propose that reefs are sinks, while others claim
they are sources of atmospheric CO2. Although
significant research effort has been directed
towards resolution of this problem during the
past 10 years, the magnitude and even the sign
of the coral reef ecosystem impact on air-sea
CO2 exchange remains unknown. We performed a "proof-of-concept"
type study on a reef system in the Red Sea with
the goal of developing methodologies for accurately
determining total carbon, CO2, and alkalinity
mass balances for entire reef systems using a
control volume approach.
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