A long term study of the Great Barrier Reef has shown the recovery times of the reef overall has fallen over the eighteen year period studied.
The study, published in Science Advances, used eighteen years of data to conclude that the ability of most reefs to recover following massive events had fallen by, on average, 84 per cent between 1992 to 2010.
Following disturbance events like cyclones, coral recovery was hindered by poor water quality and high temperature, according to lead author Juan-Carlos Ortiz from the University of Queensland, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
"We noticed for the first time a very large decline in the ability of the reef to recover from disturbances over those 18 years," he said.