According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, coral disease outbreaks are hitting the healthiest sections of the Great Barrier Reef of the coast of Australia. And because these reefs huddle so closely together, infection is spreading quickly.

The results, to be published next week in PloS Biology Journal, track one of the longest and largest surveys of ocean temperatures and coral diseases and is the first to conclusively link disease severity with warmer ocean temperatures.

"We've long suspected climate change is driving disease outbreaks," said lead study author John Bruno, Ph.D., assistant professor of marine ecology and conservation in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.  "Our results suggest that warmer temperatures are increasing the severity of disease in the ocean,"

The Great Barrier Reef, famous for its colorful coral, populates a complex limestone scaffolding built from the calcium carbonate secretions of each tiny coral or polyp. While polyps provide the structure, the vivid colors are the product of a single-celled algae that live within the polyp's cells. When disease or stressful environmental conditions strike a coral colony, the polyps expel their algae, making the coral pale.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the Natural Wonders of our world, but it's dying - and that is a tragedy. It makes me wonder if the next generation will have anything other than polluted air take their breath away.

Julia Rosien,
Nomadik Editor