SYDNEY, Australia - Marine scientists have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans, according to findings released Thursday.
The creatures were found during expeditions run by the Australian chapter of CReefs, a global census of coral reefs that is one of several projects of the Census of Marine Life, an international effort to catalog all life in the oceans.
“People have been working at these places for a long time and still there are literally hundreds and hundreds of new species that no one has ever collected or described,” said Julian Caley, a scientist from the Australian Institute of Marine Science who is helping to lead the research.

Thousands of new plant and animal species were discovered in 2007. We give you the coolest, weirdest and deadliest.
The 10-year census, scheduled for final publication in 2010, is supported by governments, divisions of the United Nations and private conservation organizations.

Expeditions
The Australian researchers conducted three expeditions, one each in the waters off the Great Barrier Reef’s Lizard and Heron islands, and one in the Ningaloo Reef, on Australia’s northwest coast. Thousands of samples were collected during the three-week research trips, which took place between April and September.
Researchers plan to explore the three sites annually for the next six years to learn more about soft corals, which are poorly understood, despite making up a large part of the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists are also looking to catalog how many animal species live on Australia’s coral reefs, how many are unique to the reefs and how they respond to human disturbance.

Researcher Neil Bruce studies specimens in a lighted aquarium on Australia’s Lizard Island Reef, in this 2008 photo provided by the Queensland Museum.
Researchers also pegged 36 plastic houselike structures to the ocean floor in various locations around the three sites. Animals are likely to be attracted to the structures and make them their home. Researchers will go back and study the life inside each house over the next few years.The structures will also be placed in reefs in other parts of the world, providing a standardized method for studying marine life internationally, Caley said.

Benefits for humans
“The project marks the first time any group has made a concerted effort to understand the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef, “said Ron Johnstone, a marine science professor at the University of Queensland, who is familiar with the research.
“The scientists’ findings could have direct benefits for humans” Johnstone said. “Marine life is used in medicines, and the creatures could also provide clues as to how they cope with climate change and pollution — issues people wrangle with as well.”
“Some people say, ‘Going out and collecting samples — of what value is that?’” he said. “It’s a bit like saying we don’t know what we have in the shop so we don’t know what we can use to survive, and at the same time we don’t know what bits of the machine fit together to make it work.”Letter to the Editor,
I’ve just returned from the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where nearly 3,000 scientists, conservationists, and government officials met to strategize solutions to coral reef destruction.

The bad news: Ocean acidification has joined climate change, over-fishing, and coastal development as an urgent and major threat to coral reef health around the world.
The good news: CORAL’s targeted method of creating effectively managed marine protected areas (MPAs) was identified as the best way to protect coral reefs.
Like taking vitamins to fortify your immune system, CORAL gives reefs a fighting chance against the major threats caused by human activities. Working within existing MPAs and identifying opportunities to create new MPAs, CORAL builds reef resilience by reducing the damage caused by such factors as marine recreation, unsustainable fishing, and lack of local capacity for conservation.
Less than one third of roughly 1,200 MPAs worldwide have the resources and knowledge to manage and enforce their protected status. Although approximately 18% of coral reefs are located in MPAs, only 2% of these MPAs have adequate conservation capacity.
While these statistics may sound daunting, they prove that our Coral Reef Sustainable Destination approach—which focuses on creating strong and effective MPA management—is the best chance we have to save coral reefs. Admittedly, the news about coral reefs is alarming, but it is by no means too late to save them if we act immediately.
CORAL’s recent successes speak for themselves:

Five years ago, the biggest local threat to the Namena Marine Reserve in Fiji was anchor damage from marine recreation operators. With CORAL’s help, Namena will become a completely anchor-free zone this summer.

In 2007, CORAL and its conservation partners facilitated the pubVoluntary-Standards-MAR.jpglication of the first voluntary standards for sustainable marine recreation along the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. With CORAL’s help, the government of Belize is pushing to transform the standards into law.
Last week, CORAL joined with their colleagues at ICRS to issue a worldwide call to action:
To save coral reefs, we must focus on improving the management of existing MPAs and creating new MPAs as quickly and effectively as possible.
CORAL is answering this call in the field on a daily basis. With your generous support, and CORAL’s strategic plan to expand their program sites from seven to seventeen in the next five years will make real and proven impacts on the health of our planet’s coral reefs.
This tremendous validation of our work was a major victory for CORAL and all of its donors. A big Thank you from CORAL for believing in them—and for helping them make people’s lives better by protecting coral reefs.

Please call Rick MacPherson, Director of Conservation Programs at (415-834-0900) if you’d like to learn more about The Coral Reef Alliance’s work and ways to get involved.