Chapter 7 ( Monique Proverbs)

In chapter 7, Kolbert visits a resarch center on One Tree Island. She also talks about the Great Barrier Reef. Later in the chapter it was stated that reefs protect ocean/marine food and species. It was also stated that reefs wouldn’t survive the Antropocene. This is probably because of human pollution and is another bad effect on other species due to human behavior. Another scientist, specifically atmospheric scientists did research on the oceans Ph level to see how the rates of the reefs had change. Another Marine biologists named Chris had a hypothesis that corals care about the saturation state of the ocean. In the end they found out that the reefs would be growing slower because there was more carbon dioxide in the air and satuaration rate were getting lower. This is concerning because if there are no more reefs then alot of ocean species can die. This shows that the Industrial Revolution and advanves in technology really hurt the environment. At the end of the chapter Kolbert says that reefs reproduce asexually.