Corals added to Red List of Threatened Species for first time

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, has for the first time, included ocean corals in its annual report on wildlife going extinct.

Washington, Sept 13 : The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, has for the first time, included ocean corals in its annual report on wildlife going extinct.

The list designates two corals Floreana coral (Tubastraea floreana) and Wellington's solitary coral (Rhizopsammia wellingtoni) - as Critically Endangered, while a third - Polycyathus isabela - is listed as Vulnerable.

The Red List also includes 74 Galapagos seaweeds, or macro-algae, with 10 of them receiving the most threatened status of Critically Endangered. Prior to 2007, only one algae species had been included on the Red List.

"There is a common misconception that marine species are not as vulnerable to extinction as land-based species. However, we increasingly realize that marine biodiversity is also faced with serious environmental threat, and that there is an urgent need to determine the worldwide extent of these pressures to guide marine conservation practice," said Roger McManus, CI's vice president for marine programs.

"These Galapagos corals and algae are the first of many marine species that will be added to the Red List due to our findings. What is significant is that climate change and over-fishing - two of the biggest threats to marine life - are the likely causes in these cases," added Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) Director Kent Carpenter of Old Dominion University in Virginia.

The IUCN report said increasingly severe El Ni�o events had caused dramatic rises in water temperatures and reduced nutrient availability around the Galapagos Islands in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, off South America.

The warmer water harmed corals and algae, both of which constituted the structural foundation of unique and diverse marine ecosystems in this tropical stretch.

Corals built reefs that served as habitat for fish and other marine life. The recovery of algae species following strong El Ni�o events was also harmed by over-fishing of the natural predators of sea urchins, which fed on the algae, the report said.

Mushrooming urchin populations scour rocks clean of algae, depleting a major food source for other species such as the Galapagos marine iguana, said Jane Smart, head of the IUCN Species Program.

"Marine ecosystems are vulnerable to threats at all scales - globally through climate change, regionally from El Ni�o events, and locally when over-fishing removes key ecosystem building blocks. We need more effective solutions to manage marine resources in a more sustainable way in light of these increasing threats," Smart said.

ANI