"The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1,500 species of fish, 411 types of hard coral, one-third of the world’s soft corals, 134 species of sharks and rays, six of the world’s seven species of threatened marine turtles, and more than 30 species of marine mammals, including the vulnerable dugong." -World Wildliife Organization(WWF)
Animals of the Great Barrier Reef
Manta Ray
Clownfish
Whale Shark
Green Sea Turtle
Humpback Whale
Mantis Shrimp
Giant Clam
Dugong
Blanket Octopus
"My greatest fear is that people will lose hope for the reef. Without hope there’s no action. People need to see these [bleaching] events not as depressing bits of news that adds to other depressing bits of news. They are clear signals the Great Barrier Reef is calling for urgent help and for us to do everything we can.
-Dr. David Wachenfeld
A chief scientist at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in an interview with Guardian Australia
What is coral bleaching?
Photograph by XL Catlin Seaview Survey
Corals have a symbiotic relationship1 with an algae called, zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae live in the coral’s tissues and give the coral its color, and are a primary food source for coral. When a coral experiences a drastic change in light, temperature or nutrient condition, they become stressed and the algae leaves the coral’s tissue. This results in the coral losing its major source of food. Due to the lack of nutrients, the coral will turn white, become vulnerable to diseases, and eventually die if stress is continued.
symbiotic relationship1: Is when two different types of species live together and develop a close relationship. In most cases, both species benefit, at least one species must benefit from the relationship.
Examples: honeybees & flower, clownfish & anemone, your gut & the prokaryotic bacteria
Since 1988, there has been five mass coral bleaching events
1998 | 2002 | 2016 | 2017 | 2020
These figures from the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, show the areas of the Great Barrier Reef from an aerial perspective that were effected by the mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Since 2016, the northern region of the Great Barrier Reef has been facing the most severity of coral bleaching, the south being less severe.
The mass coral bleaching event in 2020 is the first year where all regions (north, central, and south) of the Great Barrier Reef experienced bleaching.
Photographs by ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies
How coral can be restored in the Great Barrier Reef
Photograph by XL Catlin Seaview Survey
Coral's Regenerative Power
Coral are animals that are made up of smaller animals, called, polyps. Polyps are invertebraes that live in colonies to form coral and in turn, form coral reefs. In coral reefs, there are diverse types of coral which allow larvae to spread and grow throughout the reef. Coral can reproduce asexually through natural processes like fragmenting and budding. In fragmenting, a whole colony of polyps branch off from the parent coral to grow a new colony. In budding, the younger polyps leave the parent polyps to start a new colony. Coral can also reproduce sexually. In a spawning event, all coral in an area, collectively release their eggs and sperm at the same time into the waters. Their larvae will eventually develop into polyps and form a new colony of coral. In the event of coral bleaching, coral can regrow in damaged areas with the support of the surrounding and healthier coral.
Photograph by Eran Brokovich
Farming Coral to Transplant into Reefs
Through micro-fragmenting, a technique where a piece of coral is taken from coral reefs and broken into small fragments to regrow into an "adult." These coral are farmed in nurseries where they will be transplanted to their parent coral reef. It's the most successful coral restoration to date, coral would grow 25x - 50x faster than they would do in the wild. Through this technique, scientists are able to preserve some coral reefs like the Great Barrier Reef. However, this is only a temporary solution, it's only preventing the rate of death in coral reefs by replacing the dead coral. The root of the problem, global warming, must be addressed.
Photograph by NASA
Slow Climate Change
Governments play a huge role into global warming. If governments over the globe agreed to limit their Greenhouse Gas emissions, the global temperature could be maintained to reduce the speed of global warming.
As citizens, we could press on the issue of climate change collectively for our governments to listen and change. For example, after the two mass-coral bleaching in 2016 and 2017, in 2018, the Australian government had given a $500 million (AUD) grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.
For a long term recovery...
We, as Earth, need to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
and slow down climate change.
We need to be mindful of our impact on the environment.
We need to collectively work together to protect Earth's natural treasures.
