Climate change may have major impacts on the reproduction of the world's corals, by changing some of the cues which trigger corals to spawn.

"Previously it was thought that mass spawning events were mainly confined to a few major reef systems such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo but not more tropical reefs like in the Coral Triangle/Indonesia" says Dr Andrew Baird

This raises the risk that corals will become confused under climate change, start spawning all over the place at different times, reducing fertilization success and leading to less effective replenishment of coral populations.

 

Free copyright is granted for use of these images in conjunction with ARC Centre of Excellence news stories