A new study has found Great Barrier Reef corals were able to survive past bleaching events because they were exposed to a pattern of gradually warming waters in the lead up to each episode. However, this protective pattern is likely to be lost under near future climate change scenarios.

In a paper published in Science, researchers from James Cook University, University of Queensland and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding from the Foundation, investigated what this warming pattern means for coral bleaching events into the future.

Read the JCU media release and view the research paper abstract published in Science.