<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/22/catastrophic-great-barrier-reef-hit-by-its-most-widespread-coral-bleaching-study-finds>
"More than 40% of individual corals monitored around a Great Barrier Reef
island were killed last year in the most widespread coral bleaching outbreak to
hit the reef system, a study has found.
Scientists tracked 462 colonies of corals at One Tree Island in the southern
part of the Great Barrier Reef after heat stress began to turn the corals white
in early 2024. Researchers said they encountered “catastrophic” scenes at the
reef.
Only 92 coral colonies escaped bleaching entirely and by July, when the
analysis for the study ended, 193 were dead and a further 113 were still
showing signs of bleaching.
Prof Maria Byrne, a marine biologist at the University of Sydney and lead
author of the study, has been researching and visiting the island for 35 years.
“Seeing those really massive colonies die was really devastating,” she said. “I
have gone from being really sad to being really cranky. We have been trying to
get the message across about climate change for ages.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
