{"id":2000126889,"date":"2026-09-24T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000126889"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:10:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:10:02","slug":"coral-reproduction-study-sheds-light-on-reef-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/coral-reproduction-study-sheds-light-on-reef-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Coral reproduction study sheds light on reef recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Researchers visited Ningaloo Reef off the Western Australian coast to investigate Porites corals, a group of reef-building corals that play a major role in creating and maintaining reef habitats throughout the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement released Thursday by Australia’s Curtin University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time, the team determined when some of Ningaloo Reef’s key corals reproduce, providing a baseline to track marine heatwave impacts, reef recovery and restoration opportunities, the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding coral reproduction was essential because reefs could not recover unless corals successfully produced the next generation, said PhD candidate David Juszkiewicz from Curtin’s Coral Conservation and Research Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A damaged reef recovers because surviving corals produce offspring that go on to “replenish and rebuild the reef,” said Juszkiewicz, lead author of the study published in Marine Biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers examined 20 coral colonies from Ningaloo Reef and found evidence that two important reef-building species, Porites lutea and Porites lobata, were preparing to spawn during the reef’s annual early autumn mass spawning period, providing the first reproductive baseline for these species at Ningaloo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No signs of reproduction were found in a third species, Porites australiensis, suggesting it may spawn at a different time of year and highlighting the need for year-round monitoring, according to the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers said the regional differences in reproductive timing could mean the populations are reproductively isolated, potentially limiting their ability to replenish each other after marine heatwaves or cyclones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat\/Aqaba in the Red Sea. Corals here and in the Persian Gulf are particularly affected by light pollution. Sahchaf Ben Ezra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers in Australia have identified the reproductive timing of two key coral species at the state of Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef, providing a baseline that could help monitor reef recovery and guide restoration efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000126892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"byline":[235],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000126889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","byline-xinhua"],"bylines":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"contributors":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"featured_image":{"id":2000126892,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","alt":"","caption":"A coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat\/Aqaba in the Red Sea. Corals here and in the Persian Gulf are particularly affected by light pollution. Sahchaf Ben Ezra","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":2000,"height":1125,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","width":2000,"height":1125},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","width":2000,"height":1125},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","width":2000,"height":1125},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","width":2000,"height":1125},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/09\/ReefLight.webp","width":2000,"height":1125}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000126889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000126893,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000126889\/revisions\/2000126893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000126892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000126889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000126889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000126889"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000126889"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000126889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}