{"id":42854,"date":"2019-04-12T09:58:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T23:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=42854"},"modified":"2022-05-02T13:08:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T03:08:55","slug":"professor-morgan-pratchett-says-were-now-beyond-climateemergency-jackthelad1947-thereefreport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/professor-morgan-pratchett-says-were-now-beyond-climateemergency-jackthelad1947-thereefreport\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re now well beyond #ClimateEmergency: @Jackthelad1947 interviews @MorganPratchett for #TheReefReport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Prof Morgan Pratchett Reef Research Leader, Coral Reef Ecology, James Cook University. Photo: supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professor Morgan Pratchett is a research fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, based at James Cook University, Townsville. He has broad interests in population and community ecology of coral reef organisms, especially corals and fishes. His current research focuses on major disturbances that impact coral reef ecosystems, with a view to understanding differential responses and vulnerabilities among coral reef organisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morgan has written many papers describing direct and indirect effects of coral bleaching and outbreaks of Crown-of-thorns starfish, considering impacts on both coral assemblages and associated assemblages of coral reef fishes. He has also conducted extensive research on the biology and ecology of the coral reef butterfly fishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently interviewed him for No Fibs<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Pratt:<\/strong> A recent study by Professor Terry Hughes has shown an 89 per cent crash in baby coral numbers, what can you tell me about the significance of this study? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Pratchett: <\/strong>The National Coral Bleaching Task Force in Australia was raised prior to the coral bleaching in 2016. So what we have documented in the field, firstly, is there has been significant mass mortality of coral, mostly in the northern Great Barrier Reef; and then most recently, by studying the rates of coral recruitment, we\u2019ve shown that the mass mortality of adult corals has led to a decline in the amount of coral recruitment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bleached Coral. Photo: supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Now what we mean by coral recruitment is the amount of new baby coral coming back and settling on the reef. So this is very important for the recovery of the Great Barrier Reef following the initial loss of those adult corals. Now it\u2019s reassuring that we are seeing some level of coral recruitment even in areas that were worse affected by the bleaching, but given the rates of recruitment are so low it suggests that the time required for recovery back to what the reef was like prior to the 2016 bleaching is probably going to take decades. That\u2019s a concern because with the ongoing carbon emissions and ongoing ocean warming, we could probably expect to see mass bleaching events that caused the widespread mortality on the Great Barrier Reef to occur well within that timeframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combination of increasing frequency of disturbances and prolonged periods for recovery doesn\u2019t bode well for the Great Barrier Reef and it is possible that unless we reign in our carbon emissions the reef will never recover.<\/p>Professor Morgan Pratchett<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The corals closer to the shore were the most affected. Photo: Tess Moriarty, University of Newcastle
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John Pratt: <\/strong>I noticed in a report by Bill Leggat from Newcastle University that at Lord Howe Island some of the most southern coral on the planet suffered severe bleaching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Pratchett:<\/strong> That\u2019s right, the important thing is that the bleaching that occurs on any given reef is dependant on how much the temperature is increasing above the normal temperatures for the corals at that location. So, even though the reefs in the south are much cooler it still means that if the temperature increases by more than a degree or two for a prolonged period of time, the corals will bleach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess the thing is no reefs anywhere in the world are immune to coral bleaching really, and ongoing increases in ocean temperatures will increase the frequency and severity of coral bleaching around the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Global temperature could be 2C above normal by 2040 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

John Pratt: <\/strong>Already the IPCC, I think has given up on 1.5C warming and we are probably heading to 2C or more. Would you agree with that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Pratchett:<\/strong> I absolutely agree with that. Australia as much as any other country is not on-track to keep emissions below a level that will limit further increases in temperature below 1.5C. So what this really means is that some of the systems which are particularly vulnerable to ongoing increases in the global atmospheric and ocean temperatures are really going to be badly effected; but that\u2019s not to say we should give up. If we can limit warming at any level it\u2019s going to reduce the more devastating impacts of climate change along the way. So we need both an immediate and substantial effort to reduce emissions. Even if it goes above 1.5C the further below 2C we can keep it, the better it\u2019s going to be for natural systems around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Pratt:<\/strong> I notice that in the United Kingdom, at the end of March, the shadow environmental secretary for the British Labour Party, Sue Hayman, declared a ‘climate emergency’, trying to get the UK on track; although the UK seems to be doing far better than Australia. Do you think it\u2019s time for Australia to declare a climate emergency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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