Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is more resilient than scientists thought after undergoing a mass bleaching event. As The Times UK reports, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has issued results showing that coral cover on the reef has largely recovered from the mass bleaching of a year ago.
However, it warns that "we must urgently act to reduce our carbon emissions and minimise climate change,” because “maintaining healthy coral populations will depend on limiting future warming and preserving the capacity of reefs to recover” between events.
Scientists believe that one reason for the reef’s recovery may have been monsoon activity at the beginning of the year. The monsoon activity increased cloud cover off Queensland, reducing sea temperatures and limiting the severity and extent of coral bleaching.
Bleaching Toll — Widespread coral bleaching turns sections of reef white as heat stress causes corals to expel the algae that provide much of their colour and energy. Photo: Wikimedia
The newspaper quotes marine scientist Peter Ridd stating that the results indicated that raw coral cover on the reef had been higher in each of the past five years than at any time during the previous 35 years.
Ridd said the AIMS data showed the principal causes of temporary coral loss over the past decades were from “cyclones and plagues of crown-of-thorns starfish, which were both entirely natural”.
“There is no evidence that these are any worse than in the distant past,” he told the newspaper.
Read The Times UK here (subscription required).
