Coral reefs, as an ecosystem, are the first ecosystem on the planet to be existentially threatened by climate change,
These changes, from what we're seeing so far, appear to be happening too rapidly for the corals to adapt to so it really threatens the reef as we know it,
At the moment, we can see the reef is resilient. It's bounced back from previous coral bleaching events but at some point that elastic band will snap,
It's hard to understand how that can happen on our watch in our lifetime,
The Great Barrier Reef has been experiencing recurrent widespread mass coral bleaching events, with one of the largest mortality events occurring as we speak. Therefore, this situation is extremely worrying,
The world is losing one of its icons,
These are corals that have lived for 400 years and this is the warmest temperatures they’re experiencing. These are the Redwood trees of the reef,
It’s the canary in the coal mine in terms of climate change,
The reef is in danger and if we don’t divert from our current course, our generation will likely witness the demise of one of those great natural wonders,
I was shocked when I saw that data point pop out. We had to recheck it several times. It’s shocking too to realise that right at the point, it was the warmest January to March the Coral Sea had experienced in at least 400 years.”
It is our assessment that the reef is in danger,
We are facing a loss of one of the most iconic and spectacular places in the world,
There is no if, but or maybe – the ocean temperatures during these bleaching events are unprecedented in the past four centuries,
The existential threat to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem from anthropogenic climate change is now realized.”
The heat extremes are occurring too often for those corals to effectively adapt and evolve,
I asked the editor if they would like us to include that data point, and they said yeah,