Reef ecosystems are complex, three-dimensional marine habitats, typically structured by biogenic reef-builders such as scleractinian corals, coralline algae, or oysters, that support highly diverse, spatially structured communities of microorganisms, algae, invertebrates, and vertebrates. They are characterized by strong environmental gradients (light, nutrients, hydrodynamics), tight biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and intricate trophic networks linking primary producers, detritivores, and higher consumers. Research on reef ecosystems focuses on processes such as calcification, bioerosion, symbiosis (e.g., coral–Symbiodiniaceae associations), connectivity among reef patches, and responses to stressors including warming, acidification, eutrophication, and overfishing, with implications for ecosystem resilience and regime shifts.
A habitat-building coralline algae that provides a vital nursing ground for marine species and an important blue carbon ecosystem has been genetically mapped around south-west Britain in a first-of-its-kind study.
Plants & Animals
Nov 17, 2025
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This summer, it was all over the media. Driven by the climate crisis, the oceans have now also passed a critical point: The absorption of CO2 is making the oceans increasingly acidic.
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2025
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28
Millions of coral larvae on the Great Barrier Reef have an increased chance of replenishing degraded reefs thanks to the "larval seedbox"—a coral restoration technology developed by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, ...
Ecology
Nov 11, 2025
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37
It's a tale of underwater odd couples: One digs, the other keeps watch, and together they've thrived on the Great Barrier Reef for millennia.
Plants & Animals
Nov 11, 2025
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25
An international research team led by marine biologist Prof. Dr. Maren Ziegler from Justus Liebig University Giessen (JU) has developed an innovative method for reconstructing the past of corals and their symbiosis with algae ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 7, 2025
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37
The most sophisticated modeling to date forecasts that, under the current global emissions pathway, the Great Barrier Reef could lose most of its coral by the end of the century, but curbing climate change and strategic management ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 5, 2025
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150
Over the past twenty years, coral reef restoration has seen unprecedented growth worldwide. From Indonesia to the Caribbean, thousands of projects have been launched with the goal of "saving" coral reefs—often by planting ...
Ecology
Nov 3, 2025
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28
QUT researchers have uncovered critical biological processes that allow corals to attach to a reef in a finding that could significantly improve coral restoration efforts worldwide.
Plants & Animals
Oct 28, 2025
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117
In early June 2023, the coral reefs in the lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas were stunning. We were in diving gear, checking up on hundreds of corals we had transplanted as part of our experiments. The corals' classic ...
Ecology
Oct 25, 2025
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42
Feeding coral larvae a coral "baby food" can dramatically increase their chances of survival, offering a new avenue for reef restoration as climate change continues to threaten coral ecosystems, a new study finds.
Ecology
Oct 24, 2025
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