THEAnd waves of extreme heat are multiplying in the seas all over the world. The warmer waters mean, at all latitude, more “fuel” available for the generation of extreme weather events such as storms, hurricanes and water bombs. Mean, in our Mediterraneanalien species, alterations in the flood and lean regimes of the rivers, and impacts on the flora and fauna both marine and river. They mean enormous damage to places of the world with an invaluable value for biodiversity. This is the case of Great Australian coral reef, World Heritage Site for over 40 years And today in danger.
The record bleaching of the great Australian coral reef, a victim of the climate
Often defined as the largest living structure in the world, the large coral reef is an expanse DThe 2,300 km of tropical corals that hosts an extraordinary variety of life forms. Repeated whitening events in the utlimi years and in particular in the last they are transforming it, making vast areas of coral, once vivid red, increasingly white: It is a real submarine fire.
THE’Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) detected the phenomenon on northern and southern branches: It is the most widespread whitening of the corals in history. Among the causes, tropical cyclones and infestations of STAR MARINE CRONA DI SPINEwho feed on corals. But above all, it thermal stress caused by climate change.
Even the second largest coral reef in Australia, Ningaloo, on the west coast of the country, has undergone the same fate: they both became white at the same time for the first time ever.
An underwater fire is damaging the coral, the architect of the sea
Coral can recover from thermal stress, but it needs time, quiet and the right temperatures. Nicknamed the architect of the sea, this marine body builds vast structures that host about 25% of all marine species. The bleaching occurs when the coral is stressed: it becomes white because the water in which it lives is too hot. Once under stress, it is destined to die if it undergoes temperatures of 1 ° C (1.8 ° F) higher than its thermal limit for two months. If the waters are 2 ° C superior, it can survive for about a month.
In the results of the latest AIMS survey, The most affected coral species were the acroporessensitive to thermal stress and favorite food of the starfish of thorns. “These corals are the fastest to grow and are the first to be lost,” Dr. Mike Emesie, head of the AIMS research, explained to ABC News.
A photo of 2024 in which Anne Hoggett inspects bleaching corals and died around Lizard Island, on the large coral reef, located 270 kilometers north of the city of Cairns. Already last year the great Australian coral reef was considered on the edge of the abyss, the victim of a very serious coral whitening event. (Photo by David Gray/Afp via Getty Images)
Government programs to help the coral reef
To help coral recovering, the Australian government has started a program of Rhinestones of seafront starfish of thorns, also called Cots (from the English name Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish). These are carnivorous predators originating from the large coral reef whose number has increased exponentially byThe 60s. To help them proliferate, the increase in Policy substances: the chemical fertilizers who end up in the sea lead to an increase in phytoplankton – very small algae – present in the water, of which the cots feed on. Another factor is excessive fishing, which may have reduced i predators natural of the Cots. In short, we are also responsible in this case.
As explained Richard Lec, of the world charity organization for the WWF environment, Some coral reefs around the world are already unrecoverable, and the large coral reef could undergo the same fate without aAmbitious and rapid action for the reduction of climate change.