Warming Threatens the Great Barrier Reef Even More Than We Thought
The iconic reef depends on protective pulses of warm water to boost its heat tolerance. Climate change may eliminate these “practice runs.”
When waters get too hot, corals stress out and turn a ghostly white, and to survive, they must complete a marathon-like feat of endurance. Now, for the first time, new research reveals that a coral’s chance of surviving in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef depends on whether it encounters “practice runs” of gently warm water.
Climate change, however, is posed to eliminate these pulses of warmth, exposing the Great Barrier Reef—a necklace of 2,900 individual reefs strung along Australia’s northeast coast—to high temperatures with a lesser chance of preconditioning.
The effects could be devastating. If greenhouse gases continue at the current pace, the reef’s corals could be bleached to death by the 2050s. The reef is home to more than 1,500
