scholarly journals Great Barrier Reef

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
The World ◽  
International Experts

The iconic and beautiful Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. With contributions from international experts, this timely and fully updated second edition of The Great Barrier Reef describes the animals, plants and other organisms of the reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. It contains new chapters on shelf slopes and fisheries and addresses pressing issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, coral bleaching and disease, and invasive species. The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and environmental manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a reference text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs.

Great Barrier Reef

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Kingsford ◽  
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Disease ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
International Experts

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is 344 400 square kilometres in size and is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. This comprehensive guide describes the organisms and ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. Contemporary pressing issues such as climate change, coral bleaching, coral disease and the challenges of coral reef fisheries are also discussed. In addition,the book includes a field guide that will help people to identify the common animals and plants on the reef, then to delve into the book to learn more about the roles the biota play. Beautifully illustrated and with contributions from 33 international experts, The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and environmental manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a baseline text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Winner of a Whitley Certificate of Commendation for 2009.

Management of Water Quality in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Woodley
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Management Issue ◽  
Reef System ◽  
Marine Park ◽  
World Heritage List ◽  
The World ◽  
Coral Reef System

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is recognised and appreciated worldwide as a unique environment and for this reason has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Reef is economically-important to Queensland and Australia, supporting substantial tourism and fishing industries. Management of the Great Barrier Reef to ensure conservation of its natural qualities in perpetuity is achieved through the establishment of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The maintenance of water quality to protect the reef and the industries which depend on it is becoming an increasingly important management issue requiring better knowledge and possibly new standards of treatment and discharge.

A Sea Country Learning Partnership in Times of Anthropocenic Risk: Offshore Coral Reef Education and Our Story of Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 160-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Whitehouse ◽  
Marie Taylor ◽  
Neus (Snowy) Evans ◽  
Tanya Doyle ◽  
Juanita Sellwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reef ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Rapid Environmental Change ◽  
Civic Environmentalism

AbstractThis is a researched account of an offshore coral reef education partnership formed during a time of rapid environmental change (the coral bleaching events in the years 2015 to 2017). The aim of the partnership is to encourage a learning connection with Sea Country. Framed as civic environmentalism, this article explores the dimensions of practice between a reef tourism provider, local schools, a local university, and local Indigenous rangers that enables primary, secondary and university students, rangers, and educators to travel together on day trips to the outer Great Barrier Reef and islands and have immersive and sharing educational experiences. Offshore environmental education and higher quality marine education is increasingly important in the Anthropocene, when Australian reefs are subject to the pressures of climate change and other impacts other impacts that diminish their resilience.

Factors affecting the cycling of dimethylsulfide and dimethylsulfoniopropionate in coral reef waters of the Great Barrier Reef

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Jones ◽  
Mark Curran ◽  
Andrew Broadbent ◽  
Stacey King ◽  
Esther Fischer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Magnetic Island ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Acropora Formosa

Environmental context. Levels of atmospheric dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its oxidation products are reputed to affect the microphysics of clouds and the amount of incoming solar radiation to the ocean. Studies of DMS and its precursor compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) at two inshore fringing coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef highlight pronounced seasonal, diurnal and tidal variation of these compounds, with dissolved DMS and DMSP significantly correlated with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) up to 30°C. During a coral bleaching episode at one of the reef sites, dissolved DMS concentrations decreased when SSTs exceeded 30°C, a result replicated in chamber experiments with staghorn coral. The results raise interesting questions on the role of these organosulfur substances in corals and whether DMS emissions from coral reefs could have an effect on regional climate in the Great Barrier Reef. Abstract. A study of dissolved dimethylsulfide (DMSw), dissolved and particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSPd, DMSPp), and atmospheric dimethylsulfide (DMSa) was carried out at two inshore fringing coral reefs (Orpheus Island and Magnetic Island) in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) to investigate the variation of these organosulfur substances with season, sea surface temperature, tides, and time of day. Highest concentrations of these organosulfur substances occurred in the summer months at both reefs, with lowest concentrations occurring during winter, suggesting a biological source of these compounds from the reef flats. At the Orpheus Island reef, where more measurements were made, DMSw and DMSPd were significantly correlated with tidal height during the flooding tide over the reef (r = 0.37, P < 0.05; r = 0.58, P < 0.01 respectively), and elevated DMSw and DMSa concentrations generally occurred in the daylight hours, possibly reflecting photosynthetic production of DMSw from the reef flats. Chamber experiments with the staghorn coral Acropora formosa confirmed that corals produce DMSw in the day. DMSw (r = 0.43, P < 0.001) and DMSPd (r = 0.59, P < 0.001) were significantly positively correlated with sea surface temperatures (SST) at the Orpheus Island reef. During severe coral bleaching at the eutrophic Magnetic Island reef in the summer, DMSw concentrations decreased at SSTs greater than 30°C, suggesting that reef production of DMSw decreases during elevated SSTs. This was later confirmed in chamber experiments with Acropora formosa, which showed that when this coral was exposed to temperatures at its bleaching threshold (31°C), decreased production of DMSw occurred. These results suggest that DMS and DMSP in coral zooxanthellae may be functioning as antioxidants, but further experiments are needed to substantiate this.

scholarly journals A New Operational Seasonal Thermal Stress Prediction Tool for Coral Reefs Around Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire M. Spillman ◽  
Grant A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stress ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Ensemble Prediction ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Seasonal Forecasts ◽  
Ensemble Prediction System ◽  
Increased Risk

Seasonal forecasts of sea surface temperature (SST) have become increasingly important tools in recent years for reef managers to help inform and coordinate management responses to mass coral bleaching events. This manuscript presents new operational thermal stress forecast products for prediction of coral bleaching risk, based on the seasonal ensemble prediction system ACCESS-S1 (Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator–Seasonal Version 1). These accumulated thermal stress products form critical tools for reef management, providing advance warning of high thermal stress, and increased risk of coral bleaching in the coming season. Degree Heating Months (DHM) consider both the magnitude and duration of thermal stress, both of which are important in determining reef impacts. Both hindcast and operational realtime DHM forecasts are assessed for past bleaching events across Australia, and the impacts of different drivers and local forcings between regions compared. Generally, the model has the highest skill when forecasting events driven by large scale climate drivers such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) which impacts coral reefs on all sides of Australia. ACCESS-S1 hindcasts indicate higher skill on the west Australian coast than the Great Barrier Reef for summer months, except for the North West Shelf. Realtime forecasts of the 2020 Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching event, used operationally by reef managers throughout this event, are also presented. This work advances our understanding of the 2020 event, provides skill assessments for the new DHM products, and discusses the use of a stationary baseline in a changing climate. High DHM values can indicate an increased risk of marine heatwaves, which are likely to have increasing impacts on Australia’s reef systems in the future under a warming climate.

scholarly journals Coral reefs in the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati: Resistance, resilience, and recovery after more than a decade of multiple stressors

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255304
Author(s):  
Sara E. Cannon ◽  
Erietera Aram ◽  
Toaea Beiateuea ◽  
Aranteiti Kiareti ◽  
Max Peter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Phase Shift ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Hard Coral ◽  
Turf Algae ◽  
The World ◽  
Coral Communities

Coral reefs are increasingly affected by a combination of acute and chronic disturbances from climate change and local stressors. The coral reefs of the Republic of Kiribati’s Gilbert Islands are exposed to frequent heat stress caused by central-Pacific type El Niño events, and may provide a glimpse into the future of coral reefs in other parts of the world, where the frequency of heat stress events will likely increase due to climate change. Reefs in the Gilbert Islands experienced a series of acute disturbances over the past fifteen years, including mass coral bleaching in 2004–2005 and 2009–2010, and an outbreak of the corallivorous sea star Acanthaster cf solaris, or Crown-of-Thorns (CoTs), in 2014. The local chronic pressures including nutrient loading, sedimentation and fishing vary within the island chain, with highest pressures on the reefs in urbanized South Tarawa Atoll. In this study, we examine how recovery from acute disturbances differs across a gradient of human influence in neighboring Tarawa and Abaiang Atolls from 2012 through 2018. Benthic cover and size frequency data suggests that local coral communities have adjusted to the heat stress via shifts in the community composition to more temperature-tolerant taxa and individuals. In densely populated South Tarawa, we document a phase shift to the weedy and less bleaching-sensitive coral Porites rus, which accounted for 81% of all coral cover by 2018. By contrast, in less populated Abaiang, coral communities remained comparatively more diverse (with higher percentages of Pocillopora and the octocoral Heliopora) after the disturbances, but reefs had lower overall hard coral cover (18%) and were dominated by turf algae (41%). The CoTs outbreak caused a decline in the cover and mean size of massive Porites, the only taxa that was a ‘winner’ of the coral bleaching events in Abaiang. Although there are signs of recovery, the long-term trajectory of the benthic communities in Abaiang is not yet clear. We suggest three scenarios: they may remain in their current state (dominated by turf algae), undergo a phase shift to dominance by the macroalgae Halimeda, or recover to dominance by thermally tolerant hard coral genera. These findings provide a rare glimpse at the future of coral reefs around the world and the ways they may be affected by climate change, which may allow scientists to better predict how other reefs will respond to increasing heat stress events across gradients of local human disturbance.

scholarly journals Uncertain Futures: Coral Bleaching and the Loss of Innocence, Beauty and the Sublime

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Glade-Wright
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Sublime

The works of art in the exhibition Exodus: Coral Bleaching and Heat Stress call attention to habitat degradation due to climate change. Cyclones and bleaching events have resulted in the loss of fifty percent of the coral cover in the Great Barrier Reef over the past three decades. The capacity for art to secure belief through reflective understanding is argued in relation to the moral predicament of anthropogenic climate change. The sublime is recast in the form of the eco-sublime, allowing for new ways of feeling and imaging our place in a world where our innocence in relation to climate change has been lost.

Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef

Science ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 352 (6283) ◽  
pp. 338-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Ainsworth ◽  
S. F. Heron ◽  
J. C. Ortiz ◽  
P. J. Mumby ◽  
A. Grech ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Coral Bleaching ◽  
Barrier Reef
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