Sir David Attenborough has issued a call the save the Great Barrier Reef.
Bleached coral can take on luminously beautiful pink and purple hues - but don’t be deceived, these corals are under stress.
Justin Marshall/coralwatch.org
The bleaching hitting the Great Barrier Reef not only harms corals. As these close-up photos show, it also deprives many other species of a home and livelihood.
Recent aerial surveys found huge amounts of coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.
Terry Hughes/ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Virtual reality is enabling researchers to get first hand experience of remote environments, helping them make better decisions about their conservation.
Professor Morgan Pratchett surveys bleached corals on Australia’s GBR.
Cassy Thompson, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Bleaching has hit a huge swathe of the Great Barrier Reef, with many corals in the reef’s remote northern reaches now expected to die as a result of warm waters linked to this summer’s El Niño.
Pristine coral on the Great Barrier Reef.
Photo copyright Tom Bridge
Camille Mellin, Australian Institute of Marine Science; Aaron MacNeil, Australian Institute of Marine Science, and Julian Caley, Australian Institute of Marine Science
Banning fishing helps fish, but it also helps reef recover from cyclones, disease, and coral bleaching.
Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, which eat coral, have been linked to poor water quality.
Starfish image from www.shutterstock.com
Authorities have moved the Great Barrier Reef onto its highest alert level in response to widespread coral bleaching. Months of monitoring will now be needed to assess the ongoing damage.
By artificially going ‘back in time’ to more alkaline ocean conditions, researchers have shown the damage that ocean acidification is already doing to the Great Barrier Reef.
The Great Barrier Reef is made up of thousands of individual reefs.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr
Despite 15 years of concerted action by the Australian and Queensland governments the health of the reef is not improving and in fact may be continuing to deteriorate.
Soon the oceans will be too warm to support thriving coral reefs.
USFWS - Pacific Region/Flickr
The latest Great Barrier Reef report shows some improvements to water quality over the past five years, but there’s still a lot to do on one particular problem: nitrogen.
Diving in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat Marine Park to see these clownfish will cost you more than before – but for good reason.
Boris Bialek/Flickr
Diving in many parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia now costs a little more than it used to – but you might be happy to discover why.
The Great Southern Reef is unique, beautiful and contributes significantly to Australia’s culture and economy. However, few of us realise the magnitude and value of this gem right at our doorstep.
T. Wernberg 2002
The Great Southern Reef covers 71,000 square km and contributes more than A$10 billion to Australia’s economy each year.
The ornamental snake - one of the two species that the federal government failed to account for when approving the Carmichael mine.
Stewart Macdonald/Wikimedia
Australia was spared the ignominy of having the Great Barrier Reef listed as officially in danger. But comments from member countries of the World Heritage Committee show the world is still worried about it.