Massive coral reef discovery at mouth of Amazon River astounds scientists
- 8 years ago
RIO DE JANEIRO — Scientists never would have expected the Amazon River — surging with more runoff and sediment than any other river in the world — to hold an ecosystem as fragile as a coral reef. But an international team including scientists from the University of Georgia and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro found a huge 3,600-square-mile reef system just below the mouth of the Amazon's muddy waters.
In a study published in Science Advances last Friday, scientists describe how the 600-mile-long, newly discovered coral reef stretches from French Guinea to Maranhao State, Brazil. The reef types include carbonate structures, as well as sponges and rhodoliths, a type of algae that resemble coral.
The coral reef was divided into three sections for the purpose of their study: the northern sector, the central sector and the southern sector. According to the study, each section receives different amounts sediment from the Amazon, and consequently receives differing amounts of sunlight. This causes their ecosystems to differ greatly. While the northern sector contains more sponges, the southern section contains a wider variety of fish and coral.
The northern sector is unique in that chemosynthetic microbes help sustain a coral reef by processing minerals and compounds like ammonia and sulfur. Fabiano Thompson, an oceanographer at the University of Brazil, told Gizmodo that this is the first known reef to use chemosynthetic chemicals and minerals to sustain itself, rather than photosynthesis.
The reef contains animals like lobsters and red snappers, but the biodiversity is rather limited, reported the National Geographic. Still, researchers recorded a total of 73 fish species in the Amazonian reef, the majority of which are carnivorous. Others survive on plankton or sponges. Researchers also recorded over 60 species of sponges.
Scientists have said that this discovery is important because the Amazonian reef showcases how tropical reefs may respond to "suboptimal" conditions, something that many reefs worldwide are beginning to face in light of global warming.
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In a study published in Science Advances last Friday, scientists describe how the 600-mile-long, newly discovered coral reef stretches from French Guinea to Maranhao State, Brazil. The reef types include carbonate structures, as well as sponges and rhodoliths, a type of algae that resemble coral.
The coral reef was divided into three sections for the purpose of their study: the northern sector, the central sector and the southern sector. According to the study, each section receives different amounts sediment from the Amazon, and consequently receives differing amounts of sunlight. This causes their ecosystems to differ greatly. While the northern sector contains more sponges, the southern section contains a wider variety of fish and coral.
The northern sector is unique in that chemosynthetic microbes help sustain a coral reef by processing minerals and compounds like ammonia and sulfur. Fabiano Thompson, an oceanographer at the University of Brazil, told Gizmodo that this is the first known reef to use chemosynthetic chemicals and minerals to sustain itself, rather than photosynthesis.
The reef contains animals like lobsters and red snappers, but the biodiversity is rather limited, reported the National Geographic. Still, researchers recorded a total of 73 fish species in the Amazonian reef, the majority of which are carnivorous. Others survive on plankton or sponges. Researchers also recorded over 60 species of sponges.
Scientists have said that this discovery is important because the Amazonian reef showcases how tropical reefs may respond to "suboptimal" conditions, something that many reefs worldwide are beginning to face in light of global warming.
-------------------------------------------------------------
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