A little bit of good news for the Great Barrier Reef
Abstract
There's some hopeful news for Australia's Great Barrier Reef, long a victim of rising ocean temperatures and widespread bleaching. Last week, a monitoring group reported the highest amount of coral cover seen in 36 years, at least on two-thirds of the reef. While these starfish are naturally occurring in the Indo-Pacific region, when their populations get out of balance they can devastate coral. In 36 years of monitoring the Great Barrier Reef, scientists had never seen bleaching events happen so close together. Coral bleaching happens when the coral is under stress by changes in light, nutrients, temperature or other conditions. The coral expels the symbiotic algae that lives in its tissues, making it lose all color. While the recent report contains some good news, scientists said these gains in coral cover could easily be reversed - especially as ocean temperatures continue to rise.