‘Catastrophic’: Decade of loss on Australian reefs paints grim picture in new study
Life is dwindling on the reefs that ring Australia with more than half of the most common species in population decline, new analysis shows. Scientists have collated data from three Australian reef monitoring programs that are among the longest-running in the world. The result is a sobering national picture of shrinking volumes of shallow-reef species under mounting pressures, including heatwaves driven by climate change. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> The study found 57 per cent of the 1057 common species examined suffered population declines between 2008 and 2021. They included many species of tropical fish, as well as invertebrates on reefs that wrap around the southern half of the country. Population declines often followed heatwave years, when local water temperatures were up by more than half a degree. Southern Australia’s weedy sea dragon, for example, saw an alarming population decline of 59 per cent from 2011 to 2021. Scientists have...