Scientific sleuths at the University of Leicester in the UK have managed to trace industrial deforestation of the Malaysian rainforest back to its very beginning, by measuring the long-lasting impact on coastal ecosystems etched into the skeletons of corals.
Using coral cores obtained off the coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia, the researchers have been able to pinpoint the beginning of industrial deforestation and demonstrate its impact on marine ecosystems. These findings have since been published in the journal, Scientific Reports.
Building on a previously published pilot study in which corals were found to be useful archives of past deforestation-induced sediment discharge, it turns out that massive corals – such as the ones used in this study – can be used to fill gaps in environmental data, thanks to their ability to absorb a variety of trace elements found in surrounding seawater into their calcium carbon skeleton during their growth.
The measurement of these trace elements can then be linked to environmental conditions such as temperature, sediment, and hydrology.
And it’s using this method that researchers have traced industrial deforestation all the way back to its very beginning in 1950, by looking at the decreasing soil stability.
The study itself brought together researchers from the UK, Malaysia, and Australia, including Professor Jens Zinke, Dr Arnoud Boom, and former Leicester PhD student Walid Naciri, from the University’s School of Geography, Geology and the Environment.
Professor Zinke sampled coral cores using underwater pneumatic drills and obtained several metre-long cores from multiple coral colonies located at different distances from the main river mouth flowing into the coastal coral reef ecosystem, Miri-Sibuti Coral Reef National Park.
Laser analysis then focused on the ratio of trace elements barium and calcium (Ba/Ca) locked in coral skeletons. Barium is what is released from fine mud particles in river water once the river meets the salty ocean water. The coral Ba/Ca ratio is used as a proxy for sediment erosion long before any instrument was able to record it.
