Management Concern: High     Adequacy of Information: Moderate

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• There are more than 500 species of corals, with localised declines in some hard corals and limited information about soft corals, sea pens and sea fans.
• Since the 1980s, coral, particularly hard corals, have been affected by temperature-induced mass bleaching events. In future, these events are likely to become more frequent and more severe and, increasingly, hard corals will be exposed to the damaging effects of ocean acidification.
  

What do we know? (relevant pages from Outlook Online)

• Global distribution of coral, mangrove and seagrass diversity
  
• Soft coral (octocoral) diversity
  
• e-ATLAS: Octocorals of the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Hard coral diversity on the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Coral community changes in the Whitsundays Islands
  
• Reef Water Quality Protection Plan Inshore Reef Monitoring: richness of hard coral genera
  
• Hard coral richness in the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Soft coral richness in the Great Barrier Reef
  
• e-ATLAS: Patterns in hard coral diversity and cover on inshore reefs of the GBR
  
• e-ATLAS: Hard coral biodiversity surveys of the GBR 
  
• Sea surface temperature
  
• Differential susceptibilities of corals to bleaching
  
• Coral reef bleaching: ecological perspectives (pre-1993)
  
• Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world's coral reefs
  
• 1997-98: Unprecedented thermal stress to coral reefs?
  
• Bleaching events in 1998 and 2002
  
• Doom and boom on a resilient reef: climate change, algal overgrowth and coral recovery
  
• Coral survival following bleaching
  
• e-ATLAS: Coral Bleaching 
  
• e-ATLAS: Sea Surface Temperature (HadISST 1.1) 
  
• Sea level rise
  
• Impact of ocean acidification on corals
  
• e-ATLAS: Coral calcification 
  
• Declining coral calcification on the Great Barrier Reef
  
• Coral mortality, growth and reproduction following bleaching 
  
• The fate of bleached corals: patterns and dynamics of algal recruitment
• Links between mass coral bleaching and coral disease outbreaks
  
• Thermal stress and coral cover as drivers of coral disease
• Hard coral calcification in the Great Barrier Reef
  

Existing policies and management actions

• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park legislation and regulations
  
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 – Queensland coral fishery
  
• Queensland Policy for the Management of the Coral Fishery
  
• Guidelines on Coral Transplantation
  
• Improving water quality
• Plans of Management
  
• Permits
  
• Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
  
• Australian Government policy on climate change
• Queensland Government climate change policies and strategies
• Climate Change Action Plan 2007-2012

Future management requirements

• Biodiversity strategy

Defined research questions

• What are the key factors that lead to coral bleaching and how can these be predicted?
  
• To what extent can coral species acclimate and / or adapt to climate driven stressors?
  
• What is the adaptation potential of corals to the predicted impacts of climate change?

Current Research and Monitoring