If trend of declining coral growth continues at the current rate, the world’s coral reefs may cease calcifying around 2054.
Scientists have launched a world-first system to detect in almost real time the bleaching of the planet’s coral reefs that are under severe threat from global heating.
Scientists have identified a widespread coral bleaching event on shallow, inshore reefs that were previously considered to be less reactive to climate stress, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said on Saturday.
Proper management plan should be implemented to reduce the impacts of coral bleaching in the coming months, states the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS). In its Fiji Ocean Outlook released last Wednesday, FMS issued an “Alert Level 1” for the next eight to 12 weeks for coral bleaching.
In a long-awaited move from the Trump administration, the US has proposed critical habitat protections for twelve coral species in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The rules would protect over 6,000 sq miles (nearly 16,000 sq km) of critical coral habitat.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef runs the risk of another summer of elevated coral bleaching if cyclones and other rain events don't arrive to "suck out the heat", agencies say.
Coral reefs are critically important habitats that support a wide variety of life around the world. However, human pressures...are increasing the frequency and expanse of bleaching events.
The United Nations recently released a new report projecting future coral reef bleaching globally.
In the past two decades, abnormal heatwaves caused entire sections of reef off the coast of Australia – measuring several kilometers in length – to turn white. Scientists have already found that some reefs are better equipped to cope with recurring heat stress than others.
Coral bleaching has been detected again in several sites in Palau according to studies conducted by the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC).