Desert storms threaten coral

"Coral reefs throughout the Caribbean have been plagued by algal infestation, disease and attrition since the 1970s. Beginning about the same time, scientists noticed that desertification in North Africa was moving sand and other particulate across the Atlantic Ocean.....Changes in climate send strong winds loaded with African dust, soil, and organisms westward over the Atlantic .....The dust ball is full of bacteria, viruses and fungi that are deadly to coral....It is also rich in iron, which fertilizes reef-choking algae."

"Shinn believes [that] algal infestation, coral bleaching and coral killers such as "white band" and "black band" diseases are connected to the nearly two billion tons of dust that each year blow from North Africa to the Caribbean." For more information about this study of coral mortality and its relationship to Africam dust, visit our web page at http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/african_dust/