Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffers record coral loss after fifth mass bleaching event

[Alfonso Maruccia]

In context: Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is the world's most expansive coral reef system, spanning more than 2,300 kilometers and comprising 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It also serves as an early warning sign of the widespread effects of global warming on the planet's health.

A new report from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) confirms the deteriorating state of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The study assesses coral cover – and by extension, reef health – one year after the reef experienced its fifth mass bleaching event since 2016.

The BBC notes that the institute surveyed 124 individual coral reefs between August 2024 and May 2025. Scientists began these surveys in 1986 and now report the most significant annual decline in coral cover across vast sections of the Great Barrier Reef.

The northern region of the Great Barrier Reef lost about a quarter of its record coral cover – the most severe single-year drop ever recorded there. Meanwhile, the southern region saw its steepest annual decline, mainly due to unprecedented heat stress in 2024. The central reef was less affected by bleaching, showing smaller declines in coral cover.

Coral bleaching occurs when corals lose their symbiotic algae and photosynthetic pigments, turning them white. Bleached corals are not dead but face high stress and become more vulnerable to starvation and disease. If water temperatures rise even one degree Celsius above their thermal limit, stressed corals may survive only a few months.

Rising ocean temperatures linked to climate change and human pollution primarily cause coral bleaching. The AIMS report confirms the Great Barrier Reef experienced unprecedented heat stress, triggering the most extensive and severe bleaching events on record. The reefs also face heightened threats from a surge in coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.

The Great Barrier Reef, like coral reefs worldwide, ranks among the most vibrant ecosystems below sea level. Though they cover just one percent of Earth's surface, coral reefs host a quarter of all known marine species. They are vital underwater ecosystems supporting the livelihoods of over a billion people – making their preservation crucial.

The continued loss of coral reefs – especially the Great Barrier Reef – not only threatens marine biodiversity and coastal livelihoods but also weakens one of the planet's natural defenses against climate change, pushing us closer to more extreme environmental and economic instability.

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Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffers record coral loss after fifth mass bleaching event

 

[Megalomaniac]

Life will find a way. Keep in mind: if something suddenly happens that causes mankind to go extinct, we saw during COVID, just how rapidly the Earth recovers. We saw waterways clear themselves. We saw the skies clear themselves. We saw fish populations recover. Wild animal populations started migrating towards human cities. It's only man's arrogance to believe that humans are the end all.

When humans are gone, the roaches will have the finest offices, apartments and military bases to infest.

The coral reefs will regrow on the crashed planes and battleships.

 

[yRaz]

While tragic, we can't stop climate change at this point, not that we collectively even care enough to try.

The thing is, cooler waters will warm and make themselves habitable for new coral reach as the others die. Tragic? Yes. Do humans actually care? Well, ask them whether or not they would give up social media or their phones to save the world. I'm sure most would die watching tiktok videos or doom scrolling facebook

 

[Theinsanegamer]

While tragic, we can't stop climate change at this point, not that we collectively even care enough to try.

The thing is, cooler waters will warm and make themselves habitable for new coral reach as the others die. Tragic? Yes. Do humans actually care? Well, ask them whether or not they would give up social media or their phones to save the world. I'm sure most would die watching tiktok videos or doom scrolling facebook

The climate is always changing. It's human hubris to believe that we can freeze the environment in a state that is most beneficial to us.

And for the record, humans DO care about the environment. But they also care about their own lives too, asking them to live like cavemen and put themselves at a huge disadvantage (while the rich and political continue to live like its the 60s) just isnt going to fly. Especially when said green groups scream whine about how evil the west is; wishing for us to cripple our economies with totally unsustainable policies (and refusing to allow nuclear, which has been the obvious short term answer for 50+ years), and how we pollute while just ignoring China and India.

It would also help if environmental groups would speak out against climate hysteria. When you hear things like how Florida will be underwater in 20 years unless we halve CO2 production (spoiler, global CO2 production doubled instead yet 25 years later Florida is still 20 years away from being underwater) constantly, people will begin to doubt future claims and develop apathy towards calls to action.

 

[toooooot]

I think the main issue we need to focus on is a reliable way to prove that humans are responsible for climate change. Or to prove the opposite. A lot of people are skeptical about the reasons for climate change. They are skeptical but they are not opposers of care for the planet or changing how we use energy. It is only reasonable that we doubt the theory regarding climate change.
We need to either proof, or disprove we are causing the change. Why do I have to trust their claims when they were wrong before?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I think the main issue we need to focus on is a reliable way to prove that humans are responsible for climate change. Or to prove the opposite. A lot of people are skeptical about the reasons for climate change. They are skeptical but they are not opposers of care for the planet or changing how we use energy. It is only reasonable that we doubt the theory regarding climate change.
We need to either proof, or disprove we are causing the change. Why do I have to trust their claims when they were wrong before?

I think it's undoubtable that humans are affecting the climate. It's well known and proven that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that as we release more, temperatures rise at rates far higher then recorded throughout history.

Where I doubt is the sheer speed at which claimed changes will occur, and the intentions of those with strong convictions who seemingly always refuse to enact the most basic of measures to fix the problem in favor of convoluted solutions that funnel billions into the hands of those who donate to such movements.

 

[RudyBob]

Coral is harder than rock and will rip ya up fierce. Less is OK. It will be back

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Anyone else remember the hole in the ozone layer?

It's weird how humanity somehow tackled that problem and then turned around and almost immediately forgot that humans can cause massive changes to the global environment and humans can fix the issues they cause.

Then everyone decides to act like a badass talking about human extinction as if it would not be a brutal, long, painful drawn out process that would result in the death and suffering of literal billions.

 

[bclaymiles]

These bleaching events are a natural cyclic occurrence. Most likely influenced by ENSO, probably couple with the Equitorial Indian Ocean oscillation. The coral also comes back gangbusters after a bleaching interval.

But yes, let's roll out the 'The sky is falling, omgz!!' crew.

 

[SRB]

I think it's undoubtable that humans are affecting the climate. It's well known and proven that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that as we release more, temperatures rise at rates far higher then recorded throughout history.

Where I doubt is the sheer speed at which claimed changes will occur, and the intentions of those with strong convictions who seemingly always refuse to enact the most basic of measures to fix the problem in favor of convoluted solutions that funnel billions into the hands of those who donate to such movements.

Actually, from a physics standpoint, there is a considerable amount ot doubt that CO2 is a "greenhouse" gas. A greenhouse holds heat in with glass to focus the solar energy. CO2 molecules do not transfer heat at 100%, add to that while the solar energy come from one direction, the sun, the molecules do not radiate downward, but release the absorbed energy equally in all directions. Put that together that this is a trace gas that has a volume of about 447 parts per million, your giving an awful amount of credit to a very small amount of gas in order for it to roast us alive.

 

[SRB]

Anyone else remember the hole in the ozone layer?

It's weird how humanity somehow tackled that problem and then turned around and almost immediately forgot that humans can cause massive changes to the global environment and humans can fix the issues they cause.

Then everyone decides to act like a badass talking about human extinction as if it would not be a brutal, long, painful drawn out process that would result in the death and suffering of literal billions.

They didn't. The ozone hole is still there and doing what it always has, continually changing size, getting bigger and smaller. Much like arctic ice, sometimes it grows, sometimes it shrinks.

But most of all, we have a few hundred years of data (if that) on these phenomena that have been going on for untold centuries. Of course all of these things are a total certainty .

 

[redgarl]

Life will find a way.

Like life found a way on Venus after global warming pass a point of no return and changing its atmosphere forever huh...

No pal, the planet will survive, but not what is on it...

 

[redgarl]

The climate is always changing. It's human hubris to believe that we can freeze the environment in a state that is most beneficial to us.

And for the record, humans DO care about the environment. But they also care about their own lives too, asking them to live like cavemen and put themselves at a huge disadvantage (while the rich and political continue to live like its the 60s) just isnt going to fly. Especially when said green groups scream whine about how evil the west is; wishing for us to cripple our economies with totally unsustainable policies (and refusing to allow nuclear, which has been the obvious short term answer for 50+ years), and how we pollute while just ignoring China and India.

It would also help if environmental groups would speak out against climate hysteria. When you hear things like how Florida will be underwater in 20 years unless we halve CO2 production (spoiler, global CO2 production doubled instead yet 25 years later Florida is still 20 years away from being underwater) constantly, people will begin to doubt future claims and develop apathy towards calls to action.

The non-believer are voluntary blindsiding themselves into believing such stupidity.

The scientific data is outstanding and only the conspirationists can deny its claims at this point.

Ironically, you guys asked Canada to deal with their fires because of the smoke spreading to the USA during summer. We don`t have a summer anymore, we have a fire season now, but let`s deny it is not related to global warming...

 

[Tantor]

More hysterical global warming nonsense. If you want to understand what's really happening with coral reefs, go to this site:

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/state-of-the-great-barrier-reef-2024/

"The Australian Environment foundation (AEF) ... has issued a new report entitled “State of the Great Barrier Reef 2024.” Peter Ridd, the Chairman of the AEF, said the report shows that the reef is in excellent condition with record amounts of coral. “Despite all the catastrophism about hot water bleaching events in the last decade, the species most susceptible to bleaching, (the plate and staghorn corals), have exploded in number. Sadly, the impact of bleaching is routinely exaggerated by the media and some science organisations.”"

For those who like wading through lots of technical language, here's the full report:
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...1709883660348/State+of+the+GBR+2024+final.pdf

 

[Tantor]

The non-believer are voluntary blindsiding themselves into believing such stupidity.

The scientific data is outstanding and only the conspirationists can deny its claims at this point.

Ironically, you guys asked Canada to deal with their fires because of the smoke spreading to the USA during summer. We don`t have a summer anymore, we have a fire season now, but let`s deny it is not related to global warming...

Well, no. the scientific data is not outstanding. It's not a matter of conspiracy theories. It's a matter of scientific incompetence and greed.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Like life found a way on Venus after global warming pass a point of no return and changing its atmosphere forever huh...

No pal, the planet will survive, but not what is on it...

The purpose of life is to compete with the forces of entropy trying to bring it to an end.

Venus is closer to the sun by the way and less likely to have life on it than Earth. Mars by comparison is further from the sun, colder, and less likely to have life than Earth.

We are only existing because we got lucky and had enough time to evolve. 4.5 Billion years in a Universe closer to 15 Billion years. Humanity will either adapt or be wiped from history. It's really that simple. Other species will either rise up or face the same.

EVERYTHING gets recycled.

 

[Che Cazzo]

Funny how a techie website, allegedly full of "intelligent" techies, turns out to be a smelly basement full of unenlightened dimwits who claim to know more about science than real scientists!!

One troll even suggested the "Ozone hole" healed itself."....stupidly neglecting to mention why Freon and other such gases were outlawed, which caused the hole to shrink!!

"It's a cycle / it will heal itself / things will be fine / good riddance, coral hurts my butt, etc. "

Humans have no effect on planet earth?? Earth will heal itself?? Tell that to the overfished / hunted to extinction creatures! Did they come back?? Yeah, in museums.
Tell that to the changing weather patterns due to billions of factories pumping "harmless" fumes into the atmosphere by the billions of tons for the last 200 years. Deforesting the Amazon has absolutely no effect at all, either, right??

And guess who they call greedy?? The scientists! Not the cretins who would trash the planet for a buck.

The dimwits and oil & coal company lawyers are all right, but 99% of the scientists are all wrong!!
There is truly no hope for humanity, and looking at those posts, it's really the best outcome for the plundered, raped planet. Good riddance.

Turns out that on this website, intelligent + techie is the epitome of an oxymoron!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

They didn't. The ozone hole is still there and doing what it always has, continually changing size, getting bigger and smaller. Much like arctic ice, sometimes it grows, sometimes it shrinks.

But most of all, we have a few hundred years of data (if that) on these phenomena that have been going on for untold centuries. Of course all of these things are a total certainty .

-Its shrinking. It's continuously trending toward disappearing, and will be gone mid-century. There are seasonal fluctuations because we pumped a truckload of CFCs, Halons, and CTs in the atmosphere.

My issue with denialism is ultimately you have to work with the data you have. If the data is telling you something, then simply sticking your head in the sand and pretending the data isn't there isn't the solution.

Yeah science is an imperfect, sloppy, and ultimately human tool, but it's the best we have. Yes some data will be wrong, other data will prove existing knowledge wrong (such as hidden heat sinks or the reflective nature of cargo ship diesel plumes, etc) but you have to work with what you have.

Proceed with caution, but don't just ignore the warning signs.

 

[axiomatic13]

Funny how a techie website, allegedly full of "intelligent" techies, turns out to be a smelly basement full of unenlightened dimwits who claim to know more about science than real scientists!!

One troll even suggested the "Ozone hole" healed itself."....stupidly neglecting to mention why Freon and other such gases were outlawed, which caused the hole to shrink!!

"It's a cycle / it will heal itself / things will be fine / good riddance, coral hurts my butt, etc. "

Humans have no effect on planet earth?? Earth will heal itself?? Tell that to the overfished / hunted to extinction creatures! Did they come back?? Yeah, in museums.
Tell that to the changing weather patterns due to billions of factories pumping "harmless" fumes into the atmosphere by the billions of tons for the last 200 years. Deforesting the Amazon has absolutely no effect at all, either, right??

And guess who they call greedy?? The scientists! Not the cretins who would trash the planet for a buck.

The dimwits and oil & coal company lawyers are all right, but 99% of the scientists are all wrong!!
There is truly no hope for humanity, and looking at those posts, it's really the best outcome for the plundered, raped planet. Good riddance.

Turns out that on this website, intelligent + techie is the epitome of an oxymoron!

I agree with you 100% and I will repeat what I keep saying about this topic. I sure wish these anti-science climate deniers could call up the Texas Railroad Commission and kindly get them to remove all the rules I have to follow so my wells and the natural gas dont add to climate change. It's a very long and expensive list of things my company has to do and apprently, these Techspot guys dont think its real. I'd like to get in on this "not real" and save some money!

 

[bclaymiles]

[...] going on for untold centuries. Of course all of these things are a total certainty .

175 years of actually recorded temperatures, the first fifty to seventy-five years of which were extremely scattered, mostly localized, and of mixed reliability, and yet we can predict global phenomena from exceptionally fuzzy data from hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago. There is literally no way to determine whether there have been CO2 increases that have occurred in the past that are equal to or greater than the rate today, because there's no way to measure with precision ancient _consequential_ changes in proxies, because time blurs physical proxies.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Funny how a techie website, allegedly full of "intelligent" techies, turns out to be a smelly basement full of unenlightened dimwits who claim to know more about science than real scientists!!

One troll even suggested the "Ozone hole" healed itself."....stupidly neglecting to mention why Freon and other such gases were outlawed, which caused the hole to shrink!!

"It's a cycle / it will heal itself / things will be fine / good riddance, coral hurts my butt, etc. "

Humans have no effect on planet earth?? Earth will heal itself?? Tell that to the overfished / hunted to extinction creatures! Did they come back?? Yeah, in museums.
Tell that to the changing weather patterns due to billions of factories pumping "harmless" fumes into the atmosphere by the billions of tons for the last 200 years. Deforesting the Amazon has absolutely no effect at all, either, right??

And guess who they call greedy?? The scientists! Not the cretins who would trash the planet for a buck.

The dimwits and oil & coal company lawyers are all right, but 99% of the scientists are all wrong!!
There is truly no hope for humanity, and looking at those posts, it's really the best outcome for the plundered, raped planet. Good riddance.

Turns out that on this website, intelligent + techie is the epitome of an oxymoron!

I find it hilarious when people talk about extinct creatures not realizing that 100% of the organisms on Earth will eventually be extinct.

The sun itself will extinguish itself when it enters its red giant phase after its Hydrogen runs out and it expands, Evaporates the Earth and then shrinks to a White Dwarf.

Or: the radiation inside Earth will run out and the Earth will freeze inside out. Plate tectonics stops. Earth dies.


Take a good look around. Everything you see is going to zero.

 

[Mark Fuller]

I would like for someone to think about the world's greatest junkyard that starts just east of Houma, Louisiana and stretches all the way around the Gulf coast to past Corpus Chisti, Texas (the remnants of oil exploration and use). Also bear in mind Murphy's greatest effort on the planet Earth itself, The A Shau Valley in Vietnam. The whole geographical feature from one end of the horizon to the other North and South, East and west is I'm sure the world's largest graveyard. And don't forget that the human race itself for all of recorded history has dug up all the mineral resources that were there on this planet without a break in the action hell bent on nothing but having a good time and making money. Everything about the earth is finite, yet we carry on consuming everything that mother nature can offer up as much as we want without letting up or even considering the consequences. Mother nature gave up everything she had for the human race for 7000 years so that they could build everything they made to make money and have a good time, Just think of it, everything that is made by the human race has to come from somewhere. They laid the mountains low like a famous rock star said to build casinos and *****houses to have a good time in. Everything in the entertainment industry is put there just to have a good time. All the movies ever made, all the rock concerts, all the stadiums to play games in of every kind, all of the amusement parks, racetracks, all cost Mother Nature her very resources to put here. Not to mention the fact that all of the great cities of the world have lighted their neon skies for over 100 years now burning coal land petroleum to make electricity for a show and tell of which probably 90% is unnecessary, advertising just to make money. A famous theologist wrote of the late great planet Earth, which in my opinion will consist of a graveyard on one side of the road with a junkyard on the other. The future of what's left of the human race will be to get what they can scrounge out of the the graveyards and junkyards to survive with. I think there is some oll left at Armaggedon.

 

[bclaymiles]

But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

 

[OortCloud]

I guess none of the people commenting with a shrug and a total lack of care have kids or just generally care about young people being brought up in the sh1thole their totally selfish indulgent ignorance has left behind. There really are some colossally dumb arseh0les making comments on this site.

 

[Mark Fuller]

I guess none of the people commenting with a shrug and a total lack of care have kids or just generally care about young people being brought up in the sh1thole their totally selfish indulgent ignorance has left behind. There really are some colossally dumb arseh0les making comments on this site.

I don't know how you feel about religion, but a famous biblical personality once railed that the children always pay for the sins of the fathers.