Page 39 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

IN FOCUS

inFOCUS

AUSTRALIA’S

‘OTHER’ REEF

Spectacular but little-known, the Great Southern Reef is a marine
treasure that needs protecting says JUSTIN GILLIGAN.

A massive network of reefs lines much of coined in a 2016 scientific paper written two to four times more rapidly than
Australia’s southern coastline. It stretches by a group of prominent marine the global average, largely due to the
more than 8,000km, from northern biologists, who aim to bring this hugely influence of the East Australian Current
New South Wales to the southern tip valuable reef network to public attention off the east coast and the Leeuwin
of Tasmania and all the way to central as a single interconnected system. Current off the west coast, both of which
Western Australia. But whereas the world- By giving it a name they hope to raise transport warm water southwards.
famous Great Barrier Reef is made up of awareness of the many challenges Home to a host of sponges, seaweeds,
over 2,900 individual coral-dominated faced by this fragile ecosystem. Rapid seahorse-like fish called weedy
reefs, this comparatively little-studied population growth on the adjacent coast seadragons, and the giant cuttlefish
marine feature comprises thousands of is leading to pressure from infrastructure that wowed viewers of Blue Planet II, the
cold-water rocky reefs. They range from development, pollution and overfishing. Great Southern Reef is among the most
intertidal rock pools to shallow reefs and Most destructive of all is the warming productive marine ecosystems on Earth.
deep-water environments dominated by climate. Just as warm water causes coral Conservationists hope that in future its
sponge gardens. In some areas, brown bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, importance will be acknowledged in the
seaweeds known as kelp create enchanted so too is it having a significant impact same way as coral reefs.
undersea forests. on the Great Southern Reef. In fact, O Justin Gilligan was a category winner at Justin Gilligan
The name Great Southern Reef was Australia’s temperate seas are warming the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year