The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognizable within 20 years, according Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, at a conference in London: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so. They would be the world’s first global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist, every research organization. I’ve spoken to them all. This is critical. This is reality.”
After being a highly successful life form for 250 million years, disruptions in the biological and communication systems of coral reefs have been found to be the underlying cause of the coral bleaching and collapse of reef ecosystems around the world.
Coral reefs form the worlds biggest single structure made by living organisms, Australias Great Barrier Reef, which is visible from outer space image. The reef is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 3,000 kilometers over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers.
Life at the Edge: Great Barrier Reef Could Be Worlds 1st Gobal Ecosystem to Collapse
