Scientists have warned that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is so damaged it is undergoing a “complete ecosystem collapse” An investigator for Coral Watch has reported a ‘shocking’ lack of fish and says the surviving corals are continuing to bleach, even during winter. RT reports: Coral Watch’s Justin Marshall spent a week surveying reefs near Queensland’s Lizard Island and said the lack of fish was the most shocking discovery. “I was seeing a lot less than 50 percent of what was there [before]. Some species I wasn’t seeing at all,” he told the Guardian. Coral bleaching is the result of warming sea water which causes coral to release algae in an effort to cool. The algae give coral its color. When the coral is unable to cool down and find new algae, it dies and turns a white color. The dead coral then attracts dark algae which give it a brown appearance. This dark, or ‘turf’, algae block the fish from food and shelter, which causes fish populations to deplete through dying or relocating to more promising food sources. Coral is less likely to survive bleaching if it has been exposed to high heat and high light conditions. While some coral can [...]
