Substantial coral losses on the Great Barrier Reef of up to 72 per cent have been recorded following extensive bleaching and natural disasters last summer. The declines have been noted in new research - from the Australian Institute of Marine Science - for more than half of its reefs surveyed between Lizard Island and Cardwell.
FILE - This photo provided by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority shows the Hardy Reef near the Whitsunday Islands, Australia on June 22, 2014. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet _ so large, in fact, that it is the only living thing on earth visible from space. Coral loss is the reality experienced by the world’s most extensive coral reef ecosystem known as the Great Barrier Reef.
He says further bleaching has been seen, primarily caused by climate change-driven heat stress - and not helped by last summer's tropical cyclones Kirrilly and Jasper. More than a third of coral cover was lost across the Cooktown-Lizard Island sector, the largest annual decline for this sector in 39-years of monitoring.
Dr Rivero says that for Lizard Island and other reefs, coral cover is known as a measure of reef health.
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