Rising water temperatures have led to the worst coral destruction ever recorded in the Great Barrier Reef, as shown in a new map issued by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
The report found that almost 67 percent of the coral in the reef’s northern section has died as a result of climate change. This area has been the hardest hit in the entire reef. Only 6 percent of coral has died in the middle section and the southern reef is generally healthy.
Researchers believe that the healthy areas could suffer a similar fate as the northern section if climate change continues at its current pace.
“Most of the losses in 2016 have occurred in the northern, most pristine part of the Great Barrier Reef. This region escaped with minor damage in two earlier bleaching events in 1998 and 2002, but this time around it has been badly affected,” said Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, based at James Cook University, in a statement.
These die-offs are a product of coral bleaching, a process that occurs when water temperatures rise for long periods of time and cause coral to get rid of the algae they need to survive.
In February, March, and April of this year, temperatures in the reef were the hottest ever recorded. This sudden spike is one of the biggest factors in the coral die-offs, but gradual starvation — which happens when the coral lose their algae — also played a large role. In addition, even if the coral survives the bleaching process, they become an easy target for predators, such as snails and starfish.
This year’s bleaching is the worst on record for the Great Barrier Reef, surpassing two large die-off events in 1998 and 2002. Researchers believe this trend is going to worsen over time and that annual bleaching could become the norm within the next 20 years, BBC News reports.
While the news is bleak, there is still some hope. Researchers believe the reef could recover if given an opportunity to do so. But for that to happen, climate change will have to be curbed in some way. The current pace at which carbon dioxide is being pumped into the atmosphere, mixed with how fast temperatures are rising, threatens to harm the reef beyond repair.
Not only will coral die-offs affect the billion dollar tourism industry that surrounds the reef, they will threaten to destroy one of the greatest natural wonders on Earth. To combat this, the Australian Government has published a long-term sustainability plan for the reef and pledged financial support to aid future coral bleaching research.
“Coral reefs are therefore the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet and provide a number of ecosystem services that hundreds of millions of people rely on,” Greg Torda, a researcher at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, told USA Today.
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