Brandon Cole/naturepl.com
They are the seed banks of the sea. Hubs of healthy coral in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could help rebuild damaged areas by spreading their larvae via ocean currents. Protecting these areas could be key to the future of the ecosystem.
The Great Barrier Reef is threatened by repeated coral bleaching, outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, choking sludge from farms on land and cyclones. Surveys published in April showed that two-thirds of the reef is now badly degraded.
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But there’s still hope, says Peter Mumby at the University of Queensland in Australia. His team has identified 112 of 3800 coral reefs in the Great Barrier network that are relatively safe. These reefs could at least partially regenerate their neighbours.
The researchers looked for reefs that had the best chance of surviving future stressors, and which could conceivably seed new reefs if