Scientists studying reefs off Australia on Friday said sharks play a fundamental role in the health of coral and overfishing of them made reefs more vulnerable to global warming and weather disasters.
A research team, led by Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), studied the impact of sharks at the Rowley Shoals and Scott Reefs 300km off northwest Australia over 10 years.
“Where shark numbers are reduced we see a fundamental change in the structure of food chains on reefs,” Meekan said.
When coral dies algae grows over it, compromising coral’s ability to regrow.
Meekan said the herbivorous fishes chewed out small spaces so regrowth could take place.
The study compared the impact of cyclones and bleaching events on the marine-protected Rowley Shoals, where fishing is banned, with the neighboring Scott Reefs, where Indonesian fishermen are allowed to catch sharks.
It found less coral and more algae on the fished reefs after a major disturbance, which Meekan said was significant as the pressures of global warming increased.
The findings showed that declining global reef shark populations due to overfishing was of “great concern” because it would leave the coral structures more vulnerable to bleaching events from warmer, more acidic oceans and to large cyclones, Meekan said.
A major AIMS study last year of the Great Barrier Reef, off Australia’s east coast, found that coral cover had more than halved in the past 27 years due to storms, bleaching linked to climate change and the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish.
According to the team their shark study, published in the latest edition of peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE, had offered a “unique opportunity” to isolate and examine the impacts of sharks on an entire reef ecosystem’s health in a way not attempted before.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of