Climate Change Effect: Coral Bleaching Damaging Great Barrier Of Reef

The effect of climate change is now felt all over the world, affecting the environment from land to the sea. The high temperature brought by global warming is now taking its toll on the Great Barrier of Reef of Queensland, Australia resulting into coral bleaching.

Coral Bleaching In The Great Barrier Of Reef

In new snaps released by ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, it was seen that coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef is worsening. Coral bleaching is now affecting one-third of the 2,300km-long ecosystem, which is considered to be as big as Scotland, according to Tech Times.

Hence, about half of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef are touched by the bleaching. Coral bleaching is happening when the sea is in high temperature for two to three months because of global warming. The increasing rate of ultraviolet light, too, is to blame on the fading color of corals.

The Severity Of Coral Bleaching

Justin Marshall, a biologist at the University of Queensland, revealed there are two things that concern the environmentalist about coral bleaching. One is the critical condition of bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef and two is the amount of dying corals.

"I was completely blown away," Justin Marshall revealed, as per The Guardian. "When I went up to the reef in March I was already seeing corals that were dying." He was horrified to know that 90 percent of the coral in Lizard Island is neither dead nor dying.

The Effect Of Climate Change

Parent Herald reported the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the UN revealed that coral bleaching is one of the most "widespread and conspicuous" effects of climate change. In fact, coral bleaching in the Great Barrier of Reef is already foreseen by the scientists.

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