One third of coral species face extinction: survey
Updated
A landmark global survey of coral reefs has found a third of all coral species are at risk of extinction.
The survey by an international team of scientists was published in the prestigious journal, Science, and announced at the International Coral Reef Symposium underway in Florida.
The study also found the area with the highest number of vulnerable species is the so-called 'Coral Triangle', which covers Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and East Timor.
One of the researchers, Dr Greta Aeby, of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, says the findings mean coral reefs have joined the ranks of living creatures most likely to vanish permanently from the earth.
"Using information about population sizes, geographic range and also the susceptibility of these different coral species to bleaching, disease, or predation by crown of thorns, we found that approximately one third of our coral species are at risk," she said.
"This makes corals the most threatened group of animals on this earth, second only to the frogs and related amphibians for risk of extinction."
