Damage to Reef may be forever
THE Great Barrier Reef may never fully recover from the severe coral bleaching that affected its northern region two years ago.
But the link between the 2016 mass bleaching event and global warming has been downplayed by a South Australian oceanographer, who says the claim that the Reef will not recover “cannot be tested yet”.
A new study published today in science journal Nature shows corals on the northern Great Barrier Reef underwent a catastrophic die-off following the extended marine heatwave from March-November 2016.
The study, carried out by a team of Australian and US scientists, found that 29 per cent of the 3863 reefs comprising the world’s largest reef system lost two-thirds or more of their corals, transforming the ability of these reefs to sustain full ecological functioning.
James Cook University researcher Professor Andrew Baird said the coral die-off caused radical changes in the mix of coral species on hundreds of individual reefs.
“Mature and diverse reef communities are being transformed into more degraded systems with just a few tough species remaining,” he said.
The scientists say their findings reinforce the need for assessing the risk of a wide-scale collapse of reef ecosystems, especially if global action on cli- DAMAGE: Coral bleaching on a Far Northern reef. mate change fails warming to 1.5-2C.
Responding to the study, Flinders University Associate Professor Jochem Kaempf said an individual heatwave triggering coral bleaching could not be linked to climate change. Associate Prof Kaempf said the process that triggered an individual heatwave was fundamentally different from the processes at play in global warming.
“The claimed link between the 2016 heatwave and global warming has no scientific basis,” he said.
“The claim that the GBR will not recover in the future cannot be tested yet.
“Unfortunately, the scientific method insists that we have (to) wait several decades before we can scientifically conclude that the GBR has or has not recovered from the 2016 heatwave.
“Speculation should not be the highlight of a research study.” to limit
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