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A collaborative project led by the University of South Australia (UniSA), with input from Queensland and Victorian researchers is aimed at designing a global real-time monitoring system to help save the world’s coral reefs from further decline, primarily due to bleaching caused by global warming.

Coral reefs worldwide are dying at an alarming rate, with 75% of reefs experiencing bleaching-level heat stress in the past two years.

The World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef (GBR), considered the jewel in the crown of coral reefs worldwide and one of Australia’s most significant ecological and tourism assets, has been decimated by severe bleaching events since 2016, exacerbated by ongoing crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and coastal development.

The collaborative project is integrating remote sensing technologies with machine learning, artificial intelligence and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to monitor and hopefully stall the damage to the world’s most fragile marine ecosystems.

A multimodal platform will distil all research data relating to coral reefs, including underwater videos and photographs, satellite images, text files and time-sensor readings, onto a central dashboard for real-time global monitoring.

UniSA data analyst and lead researcher Dr Abdullahi Chowdhury says that a single centralised model will integrate all factors affecting coral reefs and provide environmental scientists with real-time predictions.

Dr Chowdhury notes “at the moment we have separate models that analyse substantial data on reef health – including bleaching levels, disease incidence, juvenile coral density and reef fish abundance – but these data sets are not integrated, and they exist in silos.

“Consequently, it is challenging to see the ‘big picture’ of reef health or to conduct large scale, real-time analyses.”

The researchers say an integrated system will track bleaching severity and trends over time; monitor crown-of-thorns starfish populations and predation risks; detect disease outbreaks and juvenile coral levels; and assess reef fish abundance, diversity, length, and biomass.

Central Queensland University PhD candidate Musfera Jahan, a GIS data expert added

“by centralising all this data in real time, we can generate predictive models that will help conservation efforts, enabling earlier intervention.

“Our coral reefs are dying very fast due to climate change – not just in Australia but across the world – so we need to take serious action pretty quickly.”

Coral reefs are often referred to as the ‘rainforests of the sea’. They make up just 1% of the world’s ocean area but they host 25% of all marine life.

The technology will bring together datasets from organisations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) and Australia’s CSIRO.

“The future of coral reef conservation lies at the intersection of technology and collaboration. This research provides a roadmap for harnessing these technologies to ensure the survival of coral reefs for generations to come,” the researchers add.

The study has been published in the journal Electronics. 

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