一份於8日發表的研究報告指出，中太平洋與西太平洋蘊含的珊瑚最多，約占全球總數的75%，同時也是珊瑚種類最為多元之處。但是此區珊瑚礁正以較先前預測為快的速度消失當中。
北卡羅萊那州立大學教堂山分校的科學家們發現，此區珊瑚礁數量每年減少1%，珊瑚礁大量減少的時間比預估的提早數十年。
這項研究結果提供了第一個在中西太平洋區域的且長期的有關珊瑚減少的分析研究，而先前鮮少有關於此區的珊瑚研究。
此研究主要作者、同時為北卡教堂山分校海洋生態與保育學系助理教授布魯諾(John Bruno)表示，「我們已損失了全球近半數的珊瑚礁。」
布魯諾與研究生莎莉西(Elizabeth Selig)發現，分布在印度洋與太平洋之間的珊瑚，在80年代早期即已消失了40%，到2003年則持續減少了20%。
布魯諾補充，「這個橫跨印度洋與太平洋一致的現象，顯示珊瑚的消失是為全球性的，部分原因可能是來自於大規模的壓力源(stressors)，例如氣候變遷。」
The central and western Pacific Ocean contains 75 percent of the world's coral reefs and the world's highest coral diversity, but corals in this region are vanishing much more rapidly than previously thought, according to research that will be published tomorrow.
The reefs are disappearing at a rate of one percent per year, a decline that began decades earlier than expected, scientists from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have learned. The study provides the first regional-scale and long-term analysis of coral loss in the central and western Pacific, where relatively little was known about patterns of reef loss.
"We have already lost half of the world's reef-building corals," said John Bruno, lead study author and associate professor of marine ecology and conservation in the Department of Marine Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Bruno and Selig found that coral cover in the Indo-Pacific region declined from 40 percent in the early 1980s to about 20 percent by 2003.
"This consistent pattern of decline across the entire Indo-Pacific indicates that coral loss is a global phenomenon, likely due in part to large-scale stressors such as climate change," Bruno said.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
