Study on Coral Species: The Australian government recently opposed the recommendation, in which it was said to keep the coral on the list of danger. Now a study has revealed a surprising thing about it.
Study on Coral Species – a symbolic picture
Coral Species Missing: The Australian government has opposed a recommendation by a United Nations body to place the coral reef on the “threatened” list. But there is no doubt that the coral reef is in dire straits. New research has revealed new information about the plight of coral species (Study on Coral Species). Due to climate change and warm ocean waves, coral reefs in the tropical region are disappearing on a large scale.
The research examined 44 years of coral presence records around Lizard Island, at the northern end of the ‘Great Barrier Reef’. The study found that 16 percent of coral species have not been seen for many years and are either locally threatened with extinction or disappearing from the region (Coral Species in Lizard Island). This is worrisome because extinctions at the local level often indicate widespread and eventually global species extinction events.
The situation worsened in the last four decades
Lizard Island’s coral area is 270 km north of Cairns. In the last four decades, it has faced major disturbances. These include repeated outbreaks of Crown-of-Thorn seastars, Category-4 cyclones in 2014 and 2015, and coral retreat in 2016, 2017 and 2020 (Coral Species Australia). The research focused on the ‘hermatypic’ coral reef around Lizard Island. These corals deposit calcium carbonate and form the hard contours of the reef. Biodiversity surveys were conducted on hard coral four times between 2011 and 2020 at 14 locations.
Which species are missing?
With this the published results of species records from 1976 to 2020 were added. Coral Missing Species include Acropora abrotenoides, Micromosa lordhovensis and Acropora aspera. It was found that 59 coral species are at risk of extinction or decline at the local level. The extinction of local species often signals regional and eventually global extinction.
Threatening the Great Barrier Reef?
In most places there is a lack of data on the distribution of all species of coral (Coral Species Crisis). This means that it can be difficult to assess changes and understand the damage caused by climate change and other anthropogenic pressures on each species. Only with this additional information can scientists conclusively say whether the level of extinction risk for endemic species on Lizard Island indicates a threat that coral species may become extinct in the ‘Great Barrier Reef’ and beyond. can.
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