Although some scientists suggest that coral reefs are headed
for certain doom, a new study by University of Florida and Caribbean
researchers indicates even damaged reefs can recover.
In a 13-year study in the Cayman Islands, warm ocean
temperatures led to bleaching and infectious disease that reduced live coral
cover by more than 40 percent between 1999 and 2004. But seven years later, the
amount of live coral on the reefs, the density of young colonies critical to
the reefs’ future health, and the overall size of corals all had returned to
the 1999 state, the study showed.