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Source: BBC Science and Environment
The carnivorous Crown of Thorn starfish—COTs for short—are invading and destroying Australia’s Great Barrier Reef at an alarming rate. Scientists believe that the use of fertilizer in cane sugar farming is to blame.
COTs can grow up to the size of dinner plates, have spine-encrusted arms, and feed on the tissue of coral by inverting their stomachs. Typically, only a small fraction of the starfish’s larvae survive to adulthood. The larvae feed on phytoplankton, which, in turn, feed on nutrients in the water. Because higher concentrations of nutrients are leaking into the water from agricultural fertilizer, there are larger populations of phytoplankton and larger numbers of COT larvae surviving into adulthood and feeding on coral from the Great Barrier Reef.
In an effort to curb coral reef destruction, John Brodie, a researcher at the James Cook University, is working with cane sugar farmers to reduce their use of fertilizers. He has already succeeded in reducing their levels by 2-3 percent.
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