The Loss of Corals in the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef has one of the largest coral reef systems in the world, and its corals are disappearing. Researchers and scientists are doing everything they can to help the corals. Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, in Queensland, northeastern Australia have been checking on corals in the Great Barrier Reef since 1995 and 2017,and on Tuesday October 13th 2020 they found a decrease in the coral. The Great Barrier reef has lost over half of its corals due to climate change.

Studies have shown that the colony sizes were smaller and there were fewer adults, especially fewer babies. Dr. Andy Dietzel, the lead author of the study, said “Our results show the ability of the Great Barrier Reef to recover — its resilience — is compromised compared to the past, because there are fewer babies, and fewer large breeding adults.”Dr. Dietzel and other researchers from the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Queensland, Australia, measured changes in colony sizes to understand how corals breed.They found out that in the southern part of the reef they were open to climate temperatures that were not good for them in early 2020, according to the researchers, who cited climate change as one of the major drivers of disturbances to the reef.

With the Great Barrier reef covering over 133,000 square miles and home to more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 species of hard corals and dozens of other species,this climate change can impact lots of communities of life. Researchers and scientists are working hard to help these corals. Professor Burkepile said that we shouldn’t give up saving the corals. “The situation is dire,” Professor Burkepile said.“People should not feel hopeless about the future of coral reefs, he said, even as they wait for world leaders to take more aggressive steps to curb the effects of climate change,” continued Professor Burkepile.