Guam’s Coral Reefs Ravaged by Warming Oceans

Bleaching killed 34 percent of the island’s reefs between 2013 and 2017, a study finds.

Written byCatherine Offord

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More than a third of Guam’s coral reefs were killed by bleaching between 2013 and 2017, according to researchers at the University of Guam. At a press conference held yesterday (July 30), the team discussed results of a study published last month (June 25) in Coral Reefs, which found that rising ocean temperatures and extreme low tides had led to the death of 34 percent of all the island’s reefs, and the disappearance of about 60 percent of reefs along the east coast of Guam.

“Never in our history of looking at reefs, have we seen something this severe,” study coauthor Laurie Raymundo told reporters, Pacific Daily News reports, adding, “The highest temperatures we’ve ever recorded in Guam happened in 2017.”

The researchers write in their paper that the data suggest several species of corals are at high risk of local extinction in Guam’s waters, and ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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