GBR
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The First Step to Conserving the Great Barrier Reef Is Understanding What Lives There
Look at this photo of two coral skeletons below. You’d be forgiven for thinking they’re the same species, or at least closely related, but looks can be deceiving. These two species diverged tens of millions of years ago, probably earlier than our human lineage split from baboons and macaques. The skeletons of two staghorn coral…
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Coral Has ‘Tree Rings’, And They Might Help Us Save The Great Barrier Reef
“Skeletal banding” is to coral what rings are to trees – and Australian scientists have discovered them in a species of coral that is critical to reef-building. The banding can show everything from how fast coral is growing and how old it really is (and how long it will live for) to what the environment…