TIME is not on our side: we have just 10 years to save the Great Barrier Reef.
That鈥檚 according to at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. If we continue to release CO2 into the atmosphere at current rates, within a decade we will reach a tipping point beyond which ocean warming will occur no matter what we do, reducing the reef鈥檚 chances of survival, he told delegates at the conference in Cairns this week.
Just six years ago the outlook was more optimistic. Biologists had found evidence that corals might cope with warmer oceans by swapping the symbiotic algae they rely on for their energy with versions that function efficiently at higher temperatures. But more recent studies have suggested that this is only an option for the 25 per cent of the world鈥檚 coral species that host multiple species of algae rather than just one. The remaining species must 鈥渕igrate their way out of trouble鈥� instead, says Hoegh-Guldberg.
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His calculations suggest that under current rates of warming, the corals must move southwards at a rate of 15 kilometres per year to stay cool. 鈥淚ndividual coral larvae can travel great distances, but the entire reef system can鈥檛,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he uncomfortable conclusion is that we might lose the reef.鈥�
at Macquarie University in Sydney agrees. 鈥淭here is virtually no evidence鈥� that coral reefs can adapt fast enough to keep up with global warming, she says.
