Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is large enough that you can see it from space. It’s home to thousands of types of sea creatures, and protects the coastline from erosion.
But it’s taken a beating over the years…
Recently, I heard that the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a comeback. What’s really going on?
We had Emily Tom and Naomi Deokule from our Possibly Team look into it.
Emily Tom: Hi, Megan!
Naomi Deokule: Hey, Megan!
Megan Hall: Okay, so is the Great Barrier Reef dead or recov ered, or what?
Emily Tom: Well, first, let’s talk about how the reef became so degraded in the first place.
Naomi Deokule: To learn more, we talked with Dr. Emma Camp.
Dr. Emma Camp: I am a marine biologist within the future research team at the University of Technology Sydney.
Emily Tom: She says the reef has been under a lot of stress lately.
Megan Hall: How?
Naomi Deokule: Well, for one, it’s experienced four mass bleaching events over the past six years
Dr. Emma Camp: when things like the temperature become too hot, the algae leave the coral because it actually started to produce some toxic oxygen species to the coral, and the coral turns white, the skeleton’s exposed. And during that time, we saw a lot of coral loss.
Megan Hall: Why do we care about this coral loss?
Emily Tom: Even though coral reefs take up less than one percent of the ocean, they support twenty-five percent of the ocean’s fish population.
Naomi Deokule: They also provide food, income, and protection for half a billion people around the world. So it’s really important that we preserve reefs everywhere.
Emily Tom: But the good news is, Emma says some of the lost coral on the reef is coming back.
Dr. Emma Camp: And that’s great. We know that if corals are given time, they can recover.
Naomi Deokule: In fact, over the past year, the Great Barrier Reef saw its highest coral cover in thirty-six years.
Megan Hall: But why? What made the coral come back?
Emily Tom: Well, the reef just hasn’t been under much stress lately.
Megan Hall: That’s awesome! You know, with so much bad news about climate change lately, it’s nice to have one less thing to worry about.
Emily Tom: Oh. Well, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but it’s not time to relax just yet. There’s more to reef recovery than just having more coral in the short term.
Megan Hall: Like what?
Naomi Deokule: Well, we are seeing more and more ocean heat waves – long periods with exceptionally high temperatures. That’s what bleaches coral in the first place.
Emily Tom: Just because the Great Barrier Reef hasn’t had one for a couple of years, doesn’t mean it will fully recover before the next one.
Naomi Deokule: And Dr. Camp says it’s not just about the quantity of coral. You also want a large variety. the reef is already showing losses of big, slow-growing corals.
Emily Tom: The bottom line is that reefs are in real trouble, and that’s only going to get worse as carbon dioxide levels rise and the earth heats up.
Dr. Emma Camp: All of the models predict that we’re going to continue to have increasing stress events, we’re going to have more bleaching events, we’re going to have more, you know, cyclones of higher intensity likely to hit the reef,
Emily Tom: One year of increased coral coverage isn’t going to save the Great Barrier Reef.
Naomi Deokule: Scientists say that if climate change isn’t stopped, there is a very high possibility that the Great Barrier Reef will disappear in our lifetimes.
Megan Hall: Oh great. I started off the episode thinking we’d get some good news about climate change.
Emily Tom: Sorry about that! It can’t always be good news.
Megan Hall: Right. Thanks, Emily and Naomi!
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Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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