Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the biggest living structure on Earth, is dying.
Damage to large portions of the reef is unfortunately, beyond recovery.
Why care about reefs? In a word—biodiversity. Just take a look at the plethora of biodiversity that call these corals their home:
Unfortunately, due to mass bleaching events as a result of global warming, scientists have warned of irreversible damage to these corals.
Coral bleaches when the water too warm for too long. The coral polyps gets stressed and spit out the algae that live in inside them. Without the colourful algae, the coral flesh becomes transparent, revealing the white skeleton beneath.
Coral bleaches when the water too warm for too long. The coral polyps gets stressed and spit out the algae that live in inside them. Without the colourful algae, the coral flesh becomes transparent, revealing the white skeleton beneath.
“This is the fourth time the Great Barrier Reef has bleached severely – in 1998, 2002, 2016, and now in 2017. Bleached corals are not necessarily dead corals, but in the severe central region we anticipate high levels of coral loss,” said researcher James Kerry, from James Cook University’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, in an official statement.
According to the surveys, 1,500 kilometers of the Great Barrier Reef is now bleached. These new statistics come less than a year after 93 percent of the reef suffered severe damage, with reports adding that the effects have also spread further south.
One can hope for The Great Barrier Reef to be healthy again but given rising temperatures, the likelihood of recovery is low. In order to save the rest of the plant from effects of climate change, we have to act now and we have to act together.
Article adapted from Futurism and The Guardian.
https://futurism.com/scientists-announce-that-the-great-barrier-reef-is-officially-terminal/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare