Climate change is likely to alter the species composition of coral reefs, rather than wipe out entire reef ecosystems.
Terry
Hughes at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and his team
sampled 132 sites along the full length of the Great Barrier Reef
(pictured), spanning 13° of latitude and a range of sea surface
temperatures. Of the 12 coral taxa sampled, 11 showed significant
differences in abundance across the reef, regardless of how susceptible
they were to thermal stress and bleaching. These differences in
abundance did not follow changes in latitude or temperature.
This flexibility may enable coral reefs to continue functioning as the environment alters with climate change.
