Researchers from Australia's James Cook University (JCU) believe that future coral reefs may not be as colorful as today as fish communities in the Great Barrier Reef are losing their colors. Marine ecologist Chris Hemingson said that the continuous coral reefs decline put the ecosystem at a critical transition point that might poise the reefs to become less colorful in the coming years.
The new study comes weeks after the news that the Great Barrier was struck by another widespread bleaching event due to the rising carbon emissions. The bleaching event particularly affected the reefs surrounding Orpheus Island, which is located at the mid-section of the largest coral reef system on the planet.
Fish Communities in the Great Barrier Reef is Losing Their Color Due to Coral Reefs Decline, Study Reveals
Diversity of Colors of Fish Communities Rely on Healthy Coral Reefs
The Great Barrier has experienced previous coral bleaching events that profoundly affected its make-up, losing soft and branching corals and affecting brightly-colored fish communities.
Researchers wrote on their group's website that as these complex coral reefs become rarer due to climate, fish communities may become duller. So, they investigated the diversity of colors of these fish communities where coral reefs are significantly affected by bleaching events.
In their study, titled "Are Fish Communities on Coral reefs Becoming Less Colorful?" published in Global Change Biology, researchers compared fish communities in healthy parts of the reef with complex corals to other areas where massive, encrusted corals dominate the wake of major disturbances.
According to Science Alert, the team found that the fishes living in covered complex corals have a more diverse range of colors than those living in coral rubbles. Hemingson said, it is not good news for reef fishes swimming in warming waters.
Looking back at the 27 years' worth of data on fish communities inhabiting the reefs surrounding Orpheus Island, the team noted that ongoing declines exacerbated by further disturbance events are likely to lead to the complete loss of brightly-colored species that will effectively make the ocean dull and drab.
ALSO READ: Marine Biologists Develop Heat-Resistant Coral to Save Great Barrier Reef
Working Efforts That Try to Save the Coral Reefs
Hemingson and colleagues acknowledge that the findings of the study may terrify people of the possibility of fish communities losing their color. But as scientists working on conserving coral reefs said, grief could be a powerful force to motivate people to take action.
Coral biologist Emma Camp from the University of Technology Sydney told Nature in 2019 that there are only two things to do with this grief: feel upset or use these emotions to find better solutions.
According to National Geographic, one of the solutions scientists found is to create more marine protected areas, which essentially makes these parts national parks in the ocean. Scientists said that this includes creating marine refuges that prohibit fishing, mining, and recreational activities to promote healthier and more resilient coral reefs.
Beyond nature preserves, scientists in the Florida Keys are also exploring a form of natural selection to keep some coral reef species afloat. Scientists would harvest samples of the corals that survived environmental stresses naturally and breed them by hand before reattaching them to the reef.
This effort was also made in the Bahamas, but scientists focused more on coral with robust genes that could make them natural candidates for restoration projects. The corals were found to have survived the intense 2015 heatwave compared to other species of coral reefs.
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