"The results suggest that the thermal toler- ances of reef-building corals are likely to be exceeded every year within the next few decades. Events as severe as

"The results suggest that the thermal toler- ances of reef-building corals are likely to be exceeded every year within the next few decades. Events as severe as the 1998 event, the worst on record, are likely to become commonplace within 20 years. Most information suggests that the capacity for acclimation by corals has already been exceeded, and that adap- tation will be too slow to avert a decline in the quality of the worldís reefs. The rapidity of the changes that are predicted indicates a major problem for tropical marine ecosystems and suggests that unrestrained warming cannot occur without the loss and degradation of coral reefs on a global scale." Predicted 17 years ago. http://www.publish.csiro.au/MF/pdf/MF99078 http://www.publish.csiro.au/MF/pdf/MF99078