{"id":811913,"date":"2026-05-21T09:41:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/811913\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:41:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:41:24","slug":"abrolhos-islands-coral-reef-shows-resistance-to-climate-bleaching-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/811913\/","title":{"rendered":"Abrolhos Islands coral reef shows resistance to climate bleaching, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have discovered that a coral reef off Western Australia remained shockingly unscathed by a record marine heatwave that turned much of the Ningaloo reef white last year.<\/p>\n

The reef at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, 60 kilometres off the coast of Geraldton, was found to have withstood the 2025 warming event that affected half of the state’s coastline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The James Cook University scientists said the discovery provided hope for the future of coral reefs, which are increasingly vulnerable to bleaching.<\/p>\n

Scientists ‘bracing’ for damage<\/p>\n

Researcher Kate Quigley was one of the group that surveyed the coastline along the Abrolhos Islands at the height of the marine heatwave.<\/p>\n

‘Red alert’ for Ningaloo<\/a><\/p>\n

West Australian Environment Minister Reece Whitby has called for an urgent briefing to understand the full extent of damage to Ningaloo Reef after a coral bleaching event.<\/p>\n

“We were kind of bracing ourselves when we got in the water to expect a lot of coral bleaching and mortality,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But we were pleasantly surprised and found that actually there was very minimal bleaching.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further research revealed the reef’s “junction between two different ecosystems” influenced its ability to withstand excessive heat.<\/p>\n

\"Fish<\/p>\n

The Abrolhos Islands are home to an abundance of wildlife on land and sea. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Dr Quigley said there were only about “five to 10 locations around the world” with a similar coral environment.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really interesting location because it’s actually where the temperate climate hits the tropical region,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Those reefs are characterised by species that you would normally see in the tropics but also expect to see in colder waters.<\/p>\n

“And what we actually found was some species only found at the Abrolhos, so [it’s] very special.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kate Quigley says she hopes the discovery gives the community a sense of hope for marine ecosystems. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

She said last year’s water temperature measurements were almost five times the amount of what was typically considered “really bad”.<\/p>\n

“Historically we have thought of four-degree heating weeks as being really bad \u2026 eight-degree heating weeks is considered pretty catastrophic,” Dr Quigley said.<\/p>\n

“What we saw at Ningaloo [last year] was upwards of 20- to 30-degree heating weeks.”<\/p>\n

\"Bleached<\/p>\n

In 2025 unprecedented water temperatures led to the bleaching of much of the Ningaloo reef. (Supplied: Brooke Pyke)<\/p>\n

Hope for the future<\/p>\n

Scientists plan to study the Abrolhos coral reef more to discover why it is so resilient.<\/p>\n

“Why are these reefs so heat tolerant and why do they seem able to be tough when other reefs around the world seem to be really suffering?” Dr Quigley said.<\/p>\n

“And that can tell us maybe how we can help other reefs become more tough and resistant in the future.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Kate Quigley says the Abrolhos is a “very complex” archipelago. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

The existence of the reef was also significant in the fight against climate change, she added.<\/p>\n

“It really shows us that there’s a lot of incredible reef worth protecting and it’s still out there,” Dr Quigley said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important to let people know that the fight’s not over and if we act on climate change now we’ll be able to save incredible places like this.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have discovered that a coral reef off Western Australia remained shockingly unscathed by a record marine heatwave…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":811914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[329904,285,9245,82799,329905,746,182836,7052,82800,130797,9259,159,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-811913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-abrolhos-islands-coral-reefs","tag-climate-change","tag-coral","tag-coral-bleaching","tag-coral-refuges-heat-resistant","tag-environment","tag-marine-ecosystem","tag-marine-life","tag-ningaloo-reef","tag-ocean-health","tag-reef","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116611913528523850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}