Thu, Feb 28, 2008 page2

• Scientists team up with US colleagues to study coral reefs

  • STAFF WRITER
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  Taiwan's coral reefs are healthier than those in other parts of the world, leading US researchers to team up this week with the nation's scientists to study the natural undersea formations, in the hope of saving coral reefs worldwide.

  Academics from California State University (Northridge) and experts from eastern Taiwan's National Dong Hwa University yesterday opened the Taiwan Coral Research Center, based in the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung County.

  The center's scientists will study the unique nature of the nation's coral reefs, which are found mostly off the southern coast, as well as encircling its smaller islands.

  "Current movements in the western Pacific make the living conditions on Taiwan's coral reefs better than [on reefs in many other countries]," said Fan Tong-yun (樊同雲), one of the Taiwanese researchers on the team, adding that this was a key reason why the research center had been established.

  Waters off the southern coast, such as near Kenting, have a much higher rate of coral coverage -- approximately 40 percent -- than the average rate of 20 percent in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The phenomenon of coral bleaching is also less serious here.

  Coral bleaching is suspected to be caused by rising water temperatures and pollution as a result of global warming.

  Fan said coral reefs all over the world, especially those in popular tourist destinations such as Hawaii, Tahiti and the Caribbean Sea, had suffered serious bleaching last year.

  But coral reefs off Kenting City had escaped this fate because there was an upwelling current in the sea there that prevented the sea temperature from rising too much, he said.

  "Taiwan's know-how in coral conservation is ahead of that in many countries in the world," Fan said.

  "[Taiwan] may even be the Noah's Ark of corals, but to reach that conclusion, we need to carry out more research on an international scale," he said.

  For your information

  Coral reefs in Taiwan

  * Coral covers 40 percent of the coastline off southern Taiwan, twice the average coverage in the Indian and Pacific oceans. * Coral reefs off Kenting are less vulnerable to bleaching because they are protected by an upwelling current in the sea that has prevented sea temperatures from rising. * Taiwan's coral conservation know-how surpasses that in many other countries.
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