Analysis of reef damage in the Indo-Pacific during the 2016 El Nino reveals that several different stressors influence bleaching. Scientists in the Indian and Pacific Oceans used the El Nino of 2016 – the warmest year on record – to evaluate the role of excess heat as the leading driver of coral bleaching and discovered…
Scientists urge priority action on hundreds of surviving reefs. The majority of 2500 reefs surveyed in a major international exercise retain the coral species that give them their distinctive structure. More than 80 marine scientists, including several from Australia, contributed to the study, which is published in the journal, Nature Ecology and Evolution.
EMBARGO LIFTED: 4am AEDT, Thursday 24 October 2013 Nature paper reveals coral animals produce the ‘smell of the ocean’ – influencing cloud formation and protecting themselves against rising seawater temperatures. Australian marine scientists have found the first evidence that coral itself may play an important role in regulating local climate. They have discovered that the…