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By Lucie AUBOURG WASHINGTON (AFP) – The massive coral bleaching episode signaled by US authorities last month is expanding and deepening in reefs around the globe, scientists warned Thursday. Amid record ocean temperatures, coral bleaching has been recorded in 62 countries and territories since February 2023, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said — an increase of nine from its warning in April. “This event is still growing in size and impacts,” Derek […]
By Laura CHUNG SYDNEY, March 8, 2024 (AFP) – A “mass bleaching event” is unfolding on Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef, authorities said Friday, as warming seas threaten the spectacular home to thousands of marine species. Often dubbed the “world’s largest living structure”, the Great Barrier Reef is a 2,300 kilometre (1,400 mile) expanse of tropical corals that house a stunning array of biodiversity. But repeated mass bleaching events have threatened to rob the tourist […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is suffering a “mass bleaching event” as coral comes under heat stress from warmer seas, reef authorities said Friday. An aerial survey showed coral bleaching at multiple reefs, “confirming a mass bleaching event, the fourth since 2016,” said a report by the Reef Authority, which manages the world’s largest coral reef system. Coral suffered despite the cooling effect of the La Nina weather phenomenon which is currently […]
by Chandan Khanna with Glenn Chapman in San Francisco Agence France-Presse MIAMI, Florida (AFP) – A bit of coral shimmers like gold in a US lab as part of urgent work to help the species protect itself from climate change, an effort even skeptical experts see as sadly justifiable. Researchers in Florida are aiming to determine whether coral can be saved from rising water temperatures and acidification by transplanting stem cells from resistant varieties to […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef that survived bleaching from rising sea temperatures were more resistant to another bout of hot conditions the following year, scientists said Tuesday, a “silver lining” for the embattled ecosystem. The 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long UNESCO World Heritage-listed reef off Australia’s northeastern coast was hit by back-to-back bleaching in 2016 and 2017. Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel […]
Graphic on coral bleaching.
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Scientists have launched the largest-ever attempt to regenerate coral on the endangered Great Barrier Reef by harvesting millions of the creatures’ eggs and sperm during their annual spawning. The researchers said Wednesday they plan to grow coral larvae from the harvested eggs and return these to areas of the reef which have been badly damaged by climate-related coral bleaching. “This is the first time that the entire process of large scale […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Coral bleached for two consecutive years at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has “zero prospect” of recovery, scientists warned Monday, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures. Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long bio-diverse reef. Last year, the […]
by Richard Ingham PARIS, France (AFP) — The beast goes by the Latin monicker of Acanthaster planci, but it is known to us as the crown-of-thorns — a venomous starfish that is ravaging our precious coral reefs. One of many threats to coral, the large, spine-studded species is capable of chewing through kilometers (miles) of reefs when large numbers of it gather and spawn. In desperation, guardians of reefs in the Indian Ocean and Pacific […]
TOWNSVILLE, Australia (Reuters) — Warm seas around Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have killed two-thirds of a 700-km (435 miles) stretch of coral in the past nine months, the worst die-off ever recorded on the World Heritage site, scientists who surveyed the reef said on Tuesday (November 29). Scientists surveyed sites on the Northern Great Barrier Reef in March and April and again at the same sites in October and November and found on average a […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Coral fish become stressed and lose weight if they are separated from each other, hampering their chances of survival, an Australian study revealed Thursday. Scientists from James Cook University in Queensland state monitored blue-green damselfish from the Great Barrier Reef, isolating some, while allowing others to remain in their shoals to better understand why they prefer to socialise. Lauren Nadler, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Experimental […]
