If we continue down our current path, coral reefs, the lifeblood of the ocean, will cease to exist by midcentury.
In Chapter 3 of Collapse of the Oceans, Joshua Jackson embeds with the dedicated scientists who are racing to save what’s left. #YEARSproject
Healthy coral reefs are alive with the pops, snaps and clicks of the invertebrate creatures that inhabit them. And many newly hatched fish species use these sounds to guide them towards new habitats.
But now scientists have found reefs damaged by coral bleaching and cyclones are much quieter than intact reefs, and are failing to attract as many new juvenile fish, which are crucial for reef recovery.
An international team published its findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today, and study co-author Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) said the results were worrying.
“During bleaching, corals lose their zooxanthellae, they starve to death, they die and live coral cover is replaced by algae,” he said.
“Those young fish graze the reef and keep the algae down. Without the fish suppressing the growth of algae, the corals have essentially no space on the reef and can’t get through.”
Press link for more: ABC.NET.AU
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