Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Great Barrier Reef saw huge losses from 2016 heatwave

One-third of reefs in the world’s largest coral system were transformed by warmed waters, finds comprehensive underwater and aerial survey.
  1. Quirin Schiermeier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Dead coral covered in algae after the 2016 bleaching event. Great Barrier Reef, 2016.

Heat stress and bleaching — the loss of symbiotic algae — killed many corals in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef after the 2016 crisis. Credit: Richard Vevers/XL Catlin SS/The Ocean Agency

Extreme heat in 2016 damaged Australia’s Great Barrier Reef much more substantially than initial surveys indicated, according to ongoing studies that have tracked the health of the coral treasure. The heatwave caused massive bleaching of the corals that captured worldwide attention.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 556, 281-282 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04660-w

References

  1. Hughes, T. P. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0041-2 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hughes, T. P. et al. Science 359, 80–83 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hughes, T. P. et al. Nature 543, 373–377 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links