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Australia Crown-of-thorns retreating on the Great Barrier Reef |
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) says that surveys of the Reef in 2007 detected fewer crown-of-thorns starfish than in any year in the past two decades.
AIMS researchers also detected a fall in coral cover on outer sections of the Reef due to coral diseases, particularly a disease known as white syndrome. The cause of the disease was unknown but it killed off massive areas of coral where hard coral cover was high. |