Spectacular Recovery From Coral Bleaching At Great Barrier Reef Marine Park In Australia
Friday, April 24, 2009 - 00:07
in Earth & Climate
Marine scientists are astonished at the spectacular recovery of certain coral reefs in Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park from a devastating coral bleaching event in 2006 when high sea temperatures caused massive and severe coral bleaching in the Keppel Islands. Damaged reefs were quickly smothered by a single species of seaweed -- an event that can spell the total loss of the corals. The rapid recovery is due to an exceptional combination of previously-underestimated ecological mechanisms.