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.
A new study shows the coastal protection coral reefs currently provide will start eroding by the end of the century, as the world continues to warm and the oceans acidify.
Secluded from human interaction, the pristine Duff Reef or Cakau Galu in Mavana, Vanuabalavu in Lau has become a turtle sanctuary in Fiji. With its stunning natural aspects, the reef has now become a marine reserve – a protected home for turtles.
You might not normally think about what corals smell like—or how the smell changes during heat stress. However, that is what researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of Sydney and Southern Cross University set out to investigate on the Great Barrier Reef.
The Great Barrier Reef is now in “critical” condition and the health of four other Australian World Heritage properties has worsened, according to a sobering report just released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN is the global authority on nature.
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.
Although American Samoa has the oldest regularly monitored coral reef transect and is in many ways the cradle of coral reef science, the Territory still has too few local coral researchers.
The United Nations recently released a new report projecting future coral reef bleaching globally.
Natural habitats have the ability to protect coastal communities against the impacts of waves and storms, yet it is unclear how different habitats complement each other to reduce those impacts. Here, we investigate the individual and combined coastal protection services supplied by live corals on reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests during both non-storm and storm conditions, and under present and future sea-level conditions. Using idealized profiles of fringing and barrier reefs, we quantify the services supplied by these habitats using various metrics of inundation and erosion.