(ANSA) – BRISBANE, NOVEMBER – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Bleaching has reached 98%, saving only part of the world’s largest coral reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. This was announced by a published study. In the current issue of Biology, only 2% of this massive underwater ecosystem has survived the event since the first major bleaching episode in 1998.
This is a phenomenon of degradation that results in the discoloration of corals, which expels the cohesive algae that give the coral its color and its nutrients due to the increase in water temperature.
Terry Hughes, lead author of a study by the Center for Excellence in Research at the Australian University of Archeology (AARC) at James University, points out that the frequency, intensity and amplitude of ocean heat waves continue to rise.
The Great Barrier Reef has been the subject of three major whitewash episodes since 1998, 2016, 2017 and 2020. Last July, researchers confirmed that the corals showed signs of recovery from past bleaching. The ecosystem is “very negative”.
The rocks are threatened by frequent hurricanes caused by global warming and by a starfish (purple aggregator) that swallows corals.
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