A Reef in Time: The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End

by J.E.N. Veron

Like many coral specialists fifteen years ago, J. E. N. Veron thought Australia's Great Barrier Reef was impervious to climate change. "Owned by a prosperous country and accorded the protection it deserves, it would surely not go the way of the Amazon rain forest or the parklands of Africa, but would endure forever. That is what I thought once, but I think it no longer." This book is Veron's Silent Spring for the world's coral reefs. Veron presents the geological history of the reef, the biology of coral reef ecosystems, and a primer on what we know about climate change. He concludes that the Great Barrier Reef and, indeed, most coral reefs will be dead from mass bleaching and irreversible acidification within the coming century unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed. If we don't have the political will to confront the plight of the world's reefs, he argues, current processes already in motion will become unstoppable, bringing on a mass extinction the world has not seen for 65 million years. Our species has cracked its own genetic code and sent representatives of its kind to the moon--we can certainly save the world's reefs if we want to. But to achieve this goal, we must devote scientific expertise and political muscle to the development of green technologies that will dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions and reverse acidification of the oceans.

Genres: Australia, Biology, Maritime, Environment, Nature, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

J.E.N. Veron, an Australian marine scientist and expert on coral reefs, relates the history of corals and coral reefs over many millions of years and warns about their threatened future. Veron tries to make the science accessible to the average reader (as Jared Diamond, who Veron mentions in his introduction, did so well in Guns, Germs, and Steel) but with limited success. I pretty much understood every paragraph that I read, but the subject matter is dense and the text can get pretty technical, so it can be a challenging read.

I definitely picked up a new appreciation of the complexity involved in studying the planet Earth. There are so many factors that have various influences, and these factors interact in seemingly endless ways. There's the orbit of the Earth around the sun, the rotation of the Earth on its axis, the tilt of the axis, all of which have varied over the millennia. And then there's continental drift, the rising and sinking of the sea floor at different times and locations, changes in sea level, the amount of ice on land, clouds, carbon dioxide, methane, the PH balance of the ocean waters, mud and silt that rivers push into the ocean. It goes on and on, and Veron explains how all of these factors influence each other. At times my eyes glazed over, but I have to admire the patience and the intelligence of the many scientists, in many disciplines, who have figured out as much as they have, and continue to advance our knowledge of how the planet works.

Veron also focuses on corals specifically, and the factors that make a reef either thrive or fail. I chose this book because I wanted to understand more about how corals and reefs function, and Veron definitely delivered on that point.

The book's final chapters are devoted to climate change, and the threats that corals face as a result. And while the loss of coral reefs would be a loss to humanity, the fate of coral reefs has to rank below other climate-change-related issues, like rising sea levels causing cities to be submerged, population shifts, famine, and all of the other dire predictions that would more directly affect the human race. I understand that Veron has the perspective of someone who has spent his life and career exploring and studying coral reefs, and although he doesn't state it explicitly, and I could be misreading him, I get the impression that he's arguing that climate change has to be addressed in order to protect the corals, but it seems like arguing that coal miners should be primarily concerned with the welfare of the canary.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using the fascinating microcosm (though, you hardly could call it "micro") of the Great Barrier Reef, the author explores the systematic breakdown of biospheres as climate change and green house gases continue to increase and are effectively ignored by the inhabitants and governments of developed nations. An enlightening read-- although the sciences of geology and ecology are occasionally a bit thick for the unlearned such as myself, this book is not at all inaccessible.

[Ewout Knoester · Rating 4 out of 5]

By providing extensive information on geology and climate, Veron places the current climatic changes in context and uses the demise of coral reefs to epitomize an immediate and unequivocal global warning

[Mal]

Dnf. Has a lot of good information and found it interesting on the reef as a whole. Got it at the mackay library :)

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting multidisiplanary review of the GBR. The author makes no apologies for his one sided view, but does present both sides of global warming.