Reefs will survive warming

Monday, April 16, 2012 - 06:30 in Earth & Climate

This was the world's first large-scale investigation of how climate affects the composition of coral reefs, and revealed that total reef losses due to climate change are unlikely. Image: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies There are winners and losers among corals under the accumulating impacts of climate change, according to a new scientific study.In the world’s first large-scale investigation of how climate affects the composition of coral reefs, an international team of marine scientists concludes that the picture is far more complicated than previously thought – but that total reef losses due to climate change are unlikely.“Coral reefs are sometimes regarded as canaries in the global climate coal mine – but it is now very clear than not all reef species will be affected equally,” explains lead author Professor Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.The emerging picture, he...

Read the whole article on Science Alert

More from Science Alert

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net