CANBERRA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Future marine heatwaves will put corals at severe risk of bleaching for longer periods than previously seen, an Australian research has warned.
In a study published on Thursday, researchers found that extended global bleaching events in the future could significantly disrupt coral spawning.
Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that occurs when corals that are experiencing heat stress expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue, turning the coral completely white. Corals that have been bleached are not dead but are more likely to die from starvation due to a disruption in the photosynthesis process.
The research, which was led by Camille Mellin from the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide, found that as global warming drives more marine heatwaves in the future, bleaching events will last longer than previously predicted.
"Our results show that by 2080, coral bleaching will tend to start in spring, rather than late summer, which could potentially threaten coral reproduction success," Mellin said in a media release.
"In many regions, coral spawning occurs once a year, in spring, and our modeling projects a high risk that coral bleaching will coincide with this reproductive event, which will be devastating for thousands of coral species."
The study also involved researchers from James Cook University, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and France's University of Montpellier.
It found that biodiversity-rich coral reefs along the equator will face the greatest risk of severe coral bleaching this century.
Damien Fordham, a study co-author from the University of Adelaide, said reefs in those regions, including Indonesia's Coral Triangle, could experience near-constant bleaching conditions by the end of the century.
Scientists from AIMS in April reported that bleaching was observed on 73 percent of Australia's Great Barrier Reef during the summer of 2023/24, marking the fifth major bleaching event on the iconic reef since 2016. ■