Coral bleaching solution could be just beneath the surface
https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/05/24/coral-bleaching-solution-could-be-just-beneath-the-surface.html[font face=Serif][font size=5]Coral bleaching solution could be just beneath the surface[/font]
24 May 2016
[font size=4]A 'lifeboat' for coral reefs could lie in deeper mesophotic coral ecosystems.
A United Nations report edited by the University of Sydneys UNESCO Chair in Marine Science offers a glimmer of hope to those managing the impact of bleaching on the worlds coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef.[/font]
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Shallow coral reefs up to 40 metres deep are the tip of the iceberg that comprises the oceans extensive coral ecosystem. Now, a United Nations report co-authored by the University of Sydneys UNESCO Chair in Marine Science provides a glimmer of hope for those managing the impact of bleaching on the worlds coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef.
Coral bleaching has affected virtually the entire Great Barrier Reef and many other coral reef systems globally, a result of the continuing rise in global temperatures and exacerbated by the summers major El Niño event. The 35 authors of the United Nations Environmental Programme
report launched today including the Universitys Professor Elaine Baker in the School of Geosciences say the deeper, mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) may act as a lifeboat for shallow coral reefs.
MCEs are intermediate depth reefs starting at about 40 metres depth and continuing to around 150 metres. The report
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems A lifeboat for coral reefs? looks at the role MCEs could play in the preservation of shallower reefs.
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