Healthy coral reefs hit hard

Date: 2/10/2007

Coral disease outbreaks have struck the healthiest sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, where researchers have conclusively linked disease severity and ocean temperature. ‘With the study, speculation about the impacts of global warming on the spread of infectious diseases among susceptible marine species has been brought to an end’ said Don Rice, director of the National Science Foundation. For six years, the international research team, led by University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, tracked infection called white syndrome in 48 reefs along more than 1,500 kilometres of Australia’s coastline.