2:52 AM Tue 2 Dec 2008 GMT
Marine researchers fear the Great Barrier Reef will suffer more coral bleaching than normal over the next 12 months because of rising sea temperatures.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is using data from the weather bureau to formulate its yearly forecast, which indicates there is a high risk the bleaching will be widespread.
The authority's Dr Paul Marshall says global warming is having a significant impact on the ocean.
 | Increasing heat stress from global climate change coupled with declining calcification rates due to ocean acidification may mean that coral dominated reefs may become a distant memory. High latitude reefs such as this one in Western Australia illustrate the struggle between coral and seaweeds. Photo: Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland - ARC Centre ofExcellence Coral Reef Studies © Click Here to view large photo |
'So particular species of coral reef fish that depend on coral either for food or for shelter, but those very very hot summers that affect the corals also affect many other sorts of plants and animals as well,' he said.'Seagrasses suffer a great deal from hot temperatures, sea birds and turtles can also suffer, particularly when they're nesting.'
This statement agrees with information presented a the Ecological Society of Australia's annual conference in Sydney, where research was tendered that suggests marine reserves are failing to protect coral reefs from climate change.
Associate Professor John Bruno from the University of North Carolina has compared more than 8,000 reefs in the Indian, Caribbean and the Pacific.
He says while marine reserves in those areas are effective in protecting coral from local factors such as over-fishing and pollution, they have not slowed the effects of global warming.
'Our results suggest that they are not mitigating those threats,' he said.
'So they appear to mitigate some stresses, probably more local scale stresses, but they don't seem to be working against regional scale stresses like coral disease and coral bleaching.'
The director of the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, believes that within 30 years, the Great Barrier Reef could have no coral and be reduced to just half of its current species.
Speaking on the eve of the publication of a unique book, The Great Barrier Reef, the first comprehensive field guide to the world's largest continous reef, he stressed the imperative to act. 'Part of the mission for us as scientists is to pass on the urgency and excitement about these issues.'
His ambition is for the book to change the lives of school students, undergraduates and members of the public. 'We need people who are waking up and getting active and making big changes in the way we live.'
His co-editors were Australian Museum senior principal research scientist Pat Hutchings and James Cook University's school of marine biology and aquaculture head Michael Kingsford.
The book grew out of undergraduate courses on the biology of coral reefs that the universities collaborated on with the University of Sydney, conducted on Heron Island.
In addition, more than 30 reef experts contributed articles on themes including threats and issues, such as coral bleaching and coral diseases, and the challenges of coral reef fisheries. 'By understanding the reef better through resources like this book, we stand a better chance of preserving this wondrous ecosystem.'
The Great Barrier Reef: Biology, Environment And Management is published by CSIRO Publishing.
by Jeni Bone
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