Australia is facing an increase in extreme heat, fire danger weather, floods and marine heatwaves, according to the latest biennial snapshot from the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.
Sangalaki Island, Indonesia.
The Coral Reef Image Bank image provide by Simon Pierce.
Marine sponges are ancient organisms that have survived mass extinctions. Many are more tolerant of climate change and may dominate over corals in future reef systems.
The GBR Foundation fills a gap in funding research that might be seen as too much of a risk by other agencies.
AAP Image/Alison Godfrey
Federal Labor has pledged to withdraw the A$443 million given to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. But the foundation’s decisions are led by science, and free of undue influence, its chief scientist says.
Successive governments have seen the Great Barrier Reef not just as a scientific wonder, but as a channel to further economic development.
Superjoseph/Shutterstock.com
The $444 million awarded to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has been criticised as a politically calculated move. But governments have been asking what the reef can do for them ever since colonial times.
Marine parks protect fragile ecosystems, like coral reefs.
Justin Rizzari
What would you do if you saw a fisher breaking the law? Would you report the offender to the police? Confront them? Or would you do nothing? These choices affect the future of marine protected areas.
Climate mitigation efforts are unlikely to be enough to save critical ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef. We may need to consider more radical environmental engineering.
Some fish fared better than others amid the extreme temperatures of the 2016 heatwave.
Rick Stuart-Smith/Reef Life Survey
The 2016 heatwave that caused mass bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef didn’t just kill corals - it also significantly changed the makeup of fish communities that call these reefs home.
New research highlights the role of sea turtles and dugong in the dispersal of seeds and maintenance of seagrass meadows, an important marine habitat and the primary food source for both animals.
The new funding is focused on measures that are already in the foreground.
Robert Linsdell/Flickr
The federal government’s new $500 million funding package for the Great Barrier Reef seems predominantly focused on the tactics that are already being tried, without much success.
Staghorn and tabular corals suffered mass die-offs, robbing many individual reefs of their characteristic shapes.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies/ Mia Hoogenboom
The 2016 bleaching event resulted in 30% mortality on the Great Barrier Reef, with many corals dying of the heat before they bleached and the loss of branching corals creating less complex reef structure.
Boat noise can interfere with the underwater communication of fishes and other marine animals.
Unsplash
New global communities of concerned citizens can help protect iconic places such as the Great Barrier Reef. But the scope of these remote communities must extend beyond mere ‘slacktivism’.
Bill Shorten spent a lot of his Tuesday press conference to support Jay Weatherill answering questions about Adani.
David Mariuz/AAP
Politics Podcast: Bill Ferris on Australia’s innovation mission
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Innovation and Science Australia chair Bill Ferris launched a report this week setting out a plan that seeks to put Australia into the top tier of innovation nations by 2030.