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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
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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.

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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)

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

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