Recent bleaching may have reduced the GBR's recovery potential by 70%

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-11-05 02:00

Australia; QLD

GBR bleaching. Credit: AIMS

Australian-led research has revealed that recent coral bleaching has reduced the Great Barrier Reef’s recovery potential by 70 per cent, but that reef-reviving coral refuges may help bolster its recovery. The study, led by The University of Queensland and the US Government’s NOAA Coral Reef Watch, analysed the impacts of the three mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Bleaching events are growing in size and killing more coral, but the research team found cooler refuges where corals likely fare better, and have the potential to supply larvae to more than half of the Reef.

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Journal/
conference: Current Biology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Queensland

Funder: W.S. is supported by NOAA grant NA19NES4320002 (Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies) at the University of Maryland/ESSIC and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program.

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