The discovery of a phenomenon that makes coral spawn more than once a year is improving the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.
The discovery was made by University of Queensland and CSIRO researchers investigating whether corals that divide their spawning over multiple months are more successful at spreading their offspring across different reefs.
Dr Karlo Hock, from UQ’s School of Biological Sciences, says despite the discovery, coral populations can only withstand so much pressure and mitigating threats to coral reefs such as river runoffs and carbon dioxide emissions are essential for their continued survival.