From vibrant corals to white skeletons: climate change and looming existential threats to coral reefs
Coral reefs and their ecosystems serve important roles on Earth – they flourish with biodiversity, providing habitat to 25% of…
Articles tagged with
Coral reefs
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MisleadingCoral cover in the Great Barrier Reef improved in 2021, but that doesn’t mean the reef is ‘growing quickly,’ contrary to Daily Wire claim
Claim:
Study Shows The Great Barrier Reef Is Growing Quickly
Source: The Daily Wire, Ben Zeisloft, 2021-10-24 -
InaccurateDespite 2021 being a good year for coral health, coral in the Great Barrier Reef has declined over the past decade and is threatened by climate change, contrary to claims by Peter Ridd
Claim:
“The amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef is at record high levels”; those claiming the reef is threatened by climate change are alarmists
Source: Climate Change Dispatch, The Australian, Watts Up With That?, Peter Ridd, 2021-07-21 -
AccurateScientists observe most widespread bleaching event ever recorded at The Great Barrier Reef
Claim:
The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing the most widespread bleaching ever recorded
Source: ABC News, Michael Slezak, Penny Timms, 2020-04-06 -
-1.3LowThe Australian’s coverage of Great Barrier Reef study creates perception that scientists are divided
“The Australian chooses to present a mixed message on this story when the science is extremely clear. The title and quote from Prof. Kaempf do not represent the views of the broader scientific community.”
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-0.5LowFuturism story on Great Barrier Reef compromised by sensational headline
“The content is almost all correct, but the attention-grabbing headline is wrong and isn’t supported by the quotes from two scientists or by the rest of the content.”
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1.8Very highAnalysis of "Large Sections of Australia’s Great Reef Are Now Dead, Scientists Find"
While natural temperature fluctuations (due to El Niño, for example) have always occurred, they are now superimposed on a warmer background due to human-induced global warming. That causes mass coral bleaching to happen more frequently.
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Mostly correctThe world’s coral reefs are severely threatened by climate change and other human impacts, as ABC story notes
Claim:
90 per cent of the world's coral reefs will disappear in the next 35 years due to coral bleaching induced by global warming, pollution and over-development.
Source: ABC News, Greg Hassall, Rebecca Latham, 2017-02-23 -
1.6Very highAnalysis of "Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has worst coral die-off ever"
“This article is mostly accurate … the frequency of massive bleaching events is increasing, will continue to increase in the near future, and these events do not need to occur annually to kill the reef. The variability of El Niño Southern Oscillation on top of the background warming trend of surface temperatures means that we will exceed the bleaching thresholds more frequently.”
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1.0HighAnalysis of "Great Barrier Reef may perish by 2030s…"
This Mashable article reports on new preliminary research that finds the ongoing coral bleaching event in the Pacific is mainly due to human-caused global warming, and that if global warming proceeds as currently expected, “large parts” of the Great Barrier Reef could die by the mid-2030s. Six scientists have reviewed the article and conclude that it is overall accurate and in agreement with the science.
