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© ATOM 2018. ISBN: 978-1-76061-146-0

A STUDY GUIDE BY DAVE CREWE

CAN WESAVE THEREEF?

INTRODUCTIONCan We Save the Reef? is an Australian documentary written and directed by Adam Geiger. The documentary explores the feasibility of scientific interventions to protect and preserve the Great Barrier Reef.

Off Australia’s Northeast Coast lies a wonder of the world; a living structure so big it can be seen from space ... more intricate and complex than any city... and so diverse it hosts a third of all fish species in Australia. This is the Great Barrier Reef; 2,600km of coral reefs, lagoons, islands and deep channels — a living fortress that meets the relentless power of the sea head-on, and protects Australia’s coast. A name recognized by most, but understood by only a handful of intrepid people. The Great Barrier Reef as we know it – 8,000 years old and home to nearly 10,000 marine species – is dying in our lifetime.

Can We Save the Reef? is the epic story of Australian and international scientists who are racing to understand our greatest natural wonder, and employing bold new science in an attempt to save it. Professor Emma Johnston is a passionate diver, leading marine biologist and board member of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. It’s part of her mission as a scientist, and an Australian, to protect our Reef. Both hard-hitting and hopeful, Professor Johnston shows us how no two reefs are the same and how other reef systems, like those in Hawaii, are proving to be valuable testing grounds for what can be done at home to help our Reef survive.

Working with Australian scientist Dr Madeleine van Oppen, Dr Ruth Gates in Hawaii is identifying and testing coral species with the greatest resilience – part of their joint work to breed coral under warmer, more acidic, future-ocean conditions. Here in Australia, at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Dr Madeleine van Oppen is pioneering ways to breed hardier Great Barrier Reef corals – and, to breed more resilient algae (their symbionts and food source) to keep more coral alive. Host Professor Johnston explores when and how science should intervene to put hardy new coral species on the Reef, and whether the pitfalls of new genetics could do more harm than good in the world’s most diverse and complex coral reef ecosystem.1

CONTENT HYPERLINKS

3 CURRICULUM LINKS

3 DOCUMENTARY PARTICIPANTS

5 CORAL BIOLOGY ACTIVITIES

6 THE GREATNESS OF THE BARRIER REEF

7 THE HEALTH OF THE REEF

9 SCIENTIFIC INTERVENTION

10 CAN WE SAVE THE REEF?

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Professor Emma Johnston is Dean of Science at UNSW Sydney. She is a leading authority in marine ecology, one of just five Board Members for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UNSW.

Professor Johnston has an exceptional research career. She is head of the Applied Marine and Estuarine Ecology Lab at UNSW, and has led major research projects for industry, gov-ernment, the Australian Research Council and the Australian Antarctic Science Program. She was the inaugural director of the Sydney Harbour Research Program at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science.

Her UNSW research group investigates the ecology of hu-man impacts in marine systems, combining the diverse disci-plines of ecology, microbiology and ecotoxicology to expand fundamental understanding and provide recommendations for management. Her research is conducted in such diverse field environments as Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef and temperate Australian estuaries.2

Dr Ruth Gates is the Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). She held postdoc-toral positions from 1990–2002 in four different labs in the Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an Assistant Researcher position there from 2002-2003.

Since 2003 she has held successive Researcher posi-tions in the HIMB. She has University of Hawaii graduate

faculty appointments in the Departments of Zoology and Oceanography, since 2003, and Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, since 2008. In 2010 she was a Sabbatical Fellow at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr Gates was the winner of the Paul Allen X-Prize Ocean Challenge to Mitigate Impacts of Ocean Acidification (2013), named Distinguished Woman Scholar by the University of Victoria, Canada (2015), elected President of the International Society for Reef Studies (2015-2019), won Scientist of the Year 2015 by the ARCS Foundation, and has more than 100 refereed scientific publications.3

Professor Madeleine van Oppen holds a halftime position as a Chair in Marine Biology at the University of Melbourne (School of BioSciences) and a half-time position as a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.4 Professor van Oppen is also a Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Australian Government’s “A Healthy and Resilient GBR” Program.

Madeleine’s research focuses on coral reef restoration, in particular the development of coral stock better able to cope with disturbed environments and predicted future ocean conditions (i.e., assisted evolution). This includes the study of microbial symbiosis in corals, and the genetic and epige-netic mechanisms of adaptation/acclimatisation to climate change. She also uses population genomic approaches to understand connectivity among coral reefs and signatures of selection in corals.5

CURRICULUM LINKSCan We Save the Reef? is suitable for students undertaking:

• YEAR 4-5 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES• YEAR 6 SCIENCE• YEAR 9-10 SCIENCE• YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY

As a curriculum resource in Humanities and Social Sciences, Can We Save the Reef? is primarily relevant to the Geography strand of Knowledge and Understanding. Investigations around questions of the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef

and possible interventions allow students to demonstrate Questioning, Analysing, Evaluating and Reflecting, and Communicating skills.

As a curriculum resource in Science, Can We Save the Reef? is primarily relevant to the Biological Sciences strand of Science Understanding. Investigations around questions of the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef and possible interventions allow students to develop their Science Inquiry skills. In Year 9-10 Science, this resource is also applicable to Science as a Human Endeavour. There are opportunities to

DOCUMENTARYPARTICIPANTS

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include elements of these activities into earlier and later years of Science study, but this resource is best suited to these two year levels.

As a curriculum resource in Year 10 Geography, Can We Save the Reef? is an excellent stimulus or source material for the Environmental Change and Management Unit. Teachers could incorporate this program wholly into an extended research task where students extrapolate upon the resource’s exploration of responses to the crisis facing the Great Barrier Reef (and international equivalents), or could be used to model the process that they would expect to undergo in a similar task.

Teachers are advised to consult the Australian Curriculum online at https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ and curriculum outlines relevant to their state or territory for further information.

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 4 Humanities and Social Sciences:

- Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI073)

- Draw simple conclusions based on analysis of information and data (ACHASSI079)

- Interact with others with respect to share points of view (ACHASSI080)

- Reflect on learning to propose actions in response to an issue or challenge and consider possible effects of proposed actions (ACHASSI081)

- Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms (ACHASSI082)

- The importance of environments, including natural vegetation, to animals and people (ACHASSK088)

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 5 Humanities and Social Sciences

- Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI094)

- Examine different viewpoints on actions, events, issues and phenomena in the past and present (ACHASSI099)

- Evaluate evidence to draw conclusions (ACHASSI101) - Reflect on learning to propose personal and/or collective

action in response to an issue or challenge, and predict the probable effects (ACHASSI104)

- Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105)

- The environmental and human influences on the location and characteristics of a place and the management of spaces within them (ACHASSK113)

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 6 Science:

- The growth and survival of living things are affected by physical conditions of their environment (ACSSU094)

- With guidance, pose clarifying questions and make predictions about scientific investigations (ACSIS232)

- Reflect on and suggest improvements to scientific investigations (ACSIS108)

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 9 Science:

- Multi-cellular organisms rely on coordinated and interdependent internal systems to respond to changes to their environment (ACSSU175)

- Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (ACSSU176)

- Values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research (ACSHE228)

- Formulate questions or hypotheses that can be investigated scientifically (ACSIS164)

- Use knowledge of scientific concepts to draw conclusions that are consistent with evidence (ACSIS170)

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 10 Science:

- Transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next involves DNA and genes (ACSSU184)

- The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity of living things and is supported by a range of scientific evidence (ACSSU185)

Relevant Content Descriptors for Year 10 Geography – Unit 1: Environmental change and management

- Human-induced environmental changes that challenge sustainability (ACHGK070)

- Environmental world views of people and their implications for environmental management (ACHGK071)

- The application of systems thinking to understanding the causes and likely consequences of the environmental change being investigated (ACHGK073)

- The application of geographical concepts and methods to the management of the environmental change being investigated (ACHGK074)

- The application of environmental economic and social criteria in evaluating management responses to the change (ACHGK075)

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CORAL BIOLOGYThese activities are intended for YEAR 6 SCIENCE. Students will investigate the unique, defining features of coral – including their reproductive process6 – and explore how these features are affected by their envi-ronment: specifically, temperature rises.

CORAL FEATURES

“What is coral? From a distance, it looks like mossy rock or bone. Up close, it appears to be covered in tiny flowers. But each of those flowers are actually an animal…” [14:47]

After watching the segment from 14:47 – 17:30, com-plete the table below defining key words used in the program to describe coral, researching or referencing a dictionary as required.

Having completed the table, produce a diagram or write a short paragraph in your own words explaining the rela-tionship between the ‘colonial’ cells that make up a coral.

This is an example of ‘symbiosis’ –symbiosis is defined as the long-term relationship between two unlike organ-isms, but the word doesn’t define the nature of that relationship. Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both organisms benefit; Commensalism is where one organism benefits, while the other is not harmed or benefited; and Parasitism is a symbiosis where one benefits at the expense of the other.. Research another example of a symbiotic relationship between organisms. You may find this Cosmos Magazine article helpful: https://cosmosmagazine.com/social-sciences/symbiosis-when-living-together-win-win

CORAL REPRODUCTION

“Most corals can only reproduce once a year. It’s the only chance scientists have to selectively breed them. If they miss it, they have to wait another year for one of the most spectacular displays in nature: coral spawning.” [30:09]

Professor Johnston details the process of ‘coral spawn-ing’ in Can We Save the Reef?, explaining that “corals

ACTIVITIESThe following activities are roughly ordered by the degree of complexity of concepts and content in each activity. While the initial activities are intended for Year 6 Science up to Year 9–10 Science and then on to Year 10 Geography, it is expected that many of the latter activities may require foundational knowledge and understanding developed in earlier activities.

are hermaphrodites that release bundles of eggs and sperm in a single packet, all at the same time.”

What is a hermaphrodite? Explain the reproductive advantages that might be available to hermaphroditic species.

Refer to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) resource on coral reproduction – http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/corals/coral-reproduction – and produce a poster or presentation explaining the phenomena that is coral spawning.

CORAL BLEACHING

“When ocean temperatures get too high, the coral rejects the algae living inside it in the process called ‘bleaching’.” [19:57]

Use this National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) resource – https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html – along with the sec-tion of Can We Save the Reef? from 18:21 – 23:26 focus-ing on coral bleaching to answer the following questions:

• What is coral bleaching?• Why does bleached coral lose its colour?• What is mesentery, and what role does it play in

coral bleaching?• Is a bleached coral dead?• Coral bleaching is typically caused by higher tem-

perature. Can anything else trigger bleaching?

TERM DEFINITION

polyp

digest

calcium carbonate

veneer

symbiont

photosynthesise

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THE GREATNESS OFTHE BARRIER REEF

This activity is primarily intended for YEAR 4-5 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES and YEAR 6 SCIENCE, though it would also be suitable for a Year 7 Science class with a greater emphasis on classifi-cation. (Specifically linking to the ACARA curricu-lum descriptor “Classification helps organise the diverse group of organisms (ACSSU111)”.) This would also be suitable as a foundational activity for a Geography class evaluating the efficacy of the intervention suggested in this documentary, as Professor Johnston identifies the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef as a critical limitation of the proposed intervention.

“The really killer question from a biodiversity per-spective is could we even possibly restore some-thing as complex biologically as the Great Barrier Reef, where you’ve got hundreds of species of coral competing in the same amount of space?” [29:01]

BIODIVERSITY

Research the Great Barrier Reef (or coral reefs in general) to develop an understanding of the ‘bio-diversity’ of the reef; in other words, the number of different species that live in and around the reef. The following resources may prove useful:

- https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-reef-biodiversity/

- http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/animals

- https://www.coral-reef-info.com/coral-reef-plants.html

- https://www.livescience.com/6290-great-barrier-reef.html

How many species are estimated to live on the Great Barrier Reef? How does this compare to other coral reefs around the world?

Extension activity: Identify some key interactions between these

species – how do these organisms rely on one another for their survival?

Marine mammals Birds

Sea snakes Sharks

Crustaceans Molluscs

Sea anemones Jellyfish

Marine turtles Crocodile

Rays Echinoderms

Hard coral Soft coral

Sponges Fishes

Create a poster or presentation featuring the differ-ent species found on the Great Barrier Reef. You may wish to use these categories as a guide7:

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THE HEALTH OFTHE REEF

The following activity is intended for YEAR 4-5 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES and YEAR 9 SCIENCE students, particularly allowing for the exploration of the curriculum descriptor “Values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research”. This task would also be suited for a YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY classroom, either as an in-troduction to a broader investigation or to address the curriculum descriptor “Human-induced envi-ronmental changes that challenge sustainability”.

DISINTEGRATION

“I see whole fields of dead coral. The white skel-etons sticking up – bleaching, caused by an ocean that’s become too warm. Brown algae is already spreading over it: the first step in the disintegration of the reef.” [04:23]

Write a fully-referenced report detailing the degra-dation of the Great Barrier Reef, including sourced statistics to demonstrate the rate of bleaching and damage over the past decade.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REEF

“The reason I want to try and contribute to the persistence of coral reefs is that they are they are so important to the functioning of the world. I mean they’re very important ecosystems that sustain a high amount of biodiversity.” [42:45]

(Note: this activity has the scope to be greatly varied in terms of complexity. This could be a simple task as-signed to a Year 6 Science class, or a more advanced activity in Geography. A specific focus on the eco-nomic benefits of the Great Barrier Reef to fishing and tourism – see: https://www.environment.gov.au/sys-tem/files/resources/a3ef2e3f-37fc-4c6f-ab1b-3b54ff-c3f449/files/gbr-economic-contribution.pdf – could also be incorporated into an Economics classroom.)

As a group, prepare a presentation identifying the importance of the Great Barrier Reef to some or all of the following. You may wish to assign different topics to each group member.

• THE HEALTH OF THE SURROUNDING OCEAN REGION• THE CONDITION OF NEARBY COASTLINES• THE ATMOSPHERE• AUSTRALIA’S FISHING INDUSTRY• AUSTRALIA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY

There are plentiful resources online about how coral reefs protect coastlines; this website is a useful start-ing point: https://web.stanford.edu/group/microdocs/howreefs.html.

Extension activity: Compare the damage to the Great Barrier Reef to equivalent coral reef(s) around the world. Is the rate of bleaching comparable across these reefs? Can you account for any discrepancies?

Teachers would likely want to set this task for students without provided sources; however, if you wish to scaf-fold the task, the following sources are a good starting point for chronicling the damage done to the Great Barrier Reef in recent years:- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/

jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare- https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/media/latest-releas-

es/-/asset_publisher/8Kfw/content/second-wave-of-mass-bleaching-unfolding-on-great-barrier-reef

- http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-03-16/coral-graveyards-grow-as-bleaching-becomes-the-new-normal/8353030

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HUMAN-INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE:

“Given how slow the world is moving on carbon emis-sions, this means that we are gonna lose these reefs as they are now.” [10:30]

Write a response critically reflecting on Professor Johnston’s statement quoted above from Can We Save the Reef?. What does she mean by the world being ‘slow moving’ on carbon emissions, and how does this relate to the health of the Great Barrier Reef (and other coral reefs)?

The graphs shown below plot the world’s primary energy use (measured in exajoules, EJ, equivalent to 1018 joules) and the world’s CO2 emissions by region from 1971 to 1998.

In pairs, compare these graphs to the average global tem-perature over this period of time. What conclusions can you draw from these data?

Extension activity: collect comparable data on energy use, CO2 emissions and global temperatures since 1998, and link these data to a quantitative statement about

human impact on climate change

http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg3/index.php?idp=18

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CORAL CONDITIONING

“We’re doing this conditioning work where we’re really trying to elicit a memory in a coral by exposing it to stressful conditions that are really simulating the future warmer and more acidic ocean.” [26:12]

“What happens if you make a hybrid is that you put two diverging genomes together into the one organism and by doing that you create new gene combinations, a new genetic diversity.” [46:17]

In the documentary, Professor Johnston visits Dr Gates in Hawaii to observe her studies in coral conditioning (or ‘assisted evolution’), where extreme conditions are used to try and develop hardier coral. Write a paragraph explaining the principles behind Dr Gates’ experiments, including their links to evolutionary biology.

How does Professor van Oppen’s research build upon Dr Gates’ work in coral conditioning?

Research examples of similar human manipulation of evolutionary biology to enhance or modify a species’ capabilities (for example: the crossbreeding of domestic dogs).

SCIENTIFICINTERVENTION

The activities in this section are primarily intended for a YEAR 10 SCIENCE classroom, given the focus on evolution and genetics. However, each of these activities provides useful founda-tional context for the subsequent, Geography-aligned activity, allowing students to recognise the risks and rewards presented by the inter-ventions investigated within this documentary.

INTRODUCED SPECIES

Narration: “Central to our mission is the impera-tive to do no harm. And the history of interven-ing is filled with disaster.” [13:28]

A brief segment, from 13:55 – 14:26 of Can We Save the Reef? touches on the chequered history of the cane told, a species introduced to Australia “to eat the beetles that damage highly lucrative sugar cane” before getting out of control and devastating local ecosystems.

Investigate the damage dealt by the introduc-tion of cane toads to Australia. You could also research subsequent interventions intended to eradicate or ameliorate the cane toad problem, and/or similar problems in Australia caused by introduced species. Can you find any examples of introduced species in a marine environment?

Discuss in groups of three or four: How do these historical problems with introduced species relate to the interventions considered in Can We Save the Reef? Are there precautions that we can take to avoid similar problems occurring again?

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ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDVIEWS OF PEOPLE

Can We Save the Reef? takes as its premise the notion that the Great Barrier Reef is valued and is worth saving. But any environmental intervention will face challenges in the political realm if it doesn’t align with popular opinion.

Conduct a survey of your peers and try to ascertain their opinion on both climate change – whether it is human-induced and the severity of the challenge it offers modern society – and the Great Barrier Reef and its importance. Be careful to choose unbiased questions that do not lead your participants towards a certain answer.

CAN WE SAVE THE REEF?

This activity is primarily suited to YEAR 10 GEOGRAPHY, though could be adapted for Year 10 Science or even a senior Biology classroom. Some elements of this task, simplified signifi-cantly, may be appropriate in a junior Humanities and Social Science/Geography classroom.

The intent of this task is to model a potential assignment task investigating an environmental change – in this case coral conditioning, and the subsequent release of a modified coral into a coral reef environment – but this activity could also be adapted into an extended assignment task in its own right.

“And so, the fundamental question becomes, ‘Are we at risk of doing more damage in the mean-time?’ Like, what could we possibly do in this assisted evolution that might reduce the capacity of the reefs to get through this crisis?” [33:19]

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Extension activity: At a senior level, and in depth analysis of this question could be supplemented by the detailed data and conclusions presented in the following two sources:

- https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39666- https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201613

In addition, students could examine their findings in light of the Australian Federal Government’s recent decision to fund the protection and revival of the Great Barrier Reef. According to the Courier Mail, “Scientists say they will use funding to undertake selective breeding of coral from far-northern waters to create a more heat-tolerant coral with the aim of buffering the reef from future bleaching events.”8

PROS AND CONS

“if we don’t assist the system we will have no reefs to damage through assisted evolution and I think this is always the perspective; that somehow we might introduce an invasive into a native population that might be doing well… but the native popula-tions aren’t doing well.” [33:19]

Much of this programme is built around the idea of risk vs reward – that the significant dangers posed by

introducing a conditioned, crossbred coral spe-cies into an extant coral reef are outweighed by the gravity of the threat facing these reefs as tempera-tures continue to rise.

While watching the program, take notes in the table below of potential risks of acting versus the risk of not intervening.

When you have completed your table, use it as stimulus to discuss the viability of the suggested intervention. Once you have come to a conclusion, reflect upon your process: is there a better frame-work to discuss risk vs reward in this situation?

RISKS OF INTERVENING RISKS OF NOT INTERVENING

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Endnotes1 Can We Save the Reef? Press Kit, SeaLight Pictures 20172 http://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/emma-johnston 3 https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/soestwp/about/directory/

ruth-d-gates/ 4 https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person726007 5 http://data.aims.gov.au/staffcv/jsf/external/view.

xhtml?partyId=100000442

6 This section links more specifically to Year 4 Science’s Biological Sciences strand, where students investigate life cycles, but is included here as a prerequisite to understand-ing Dr van Oppen’s study of coral hybrids.

7 Adapted from http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/animals

8 Renee Viellaris, ‘Turnbull’s Reef-Olution: Future Proof Super Coral’, The Courier Mail, 22 January 2018, pp 1.

This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2018) ISBN: 978-1-76061-146-0 editor@atom.org.au

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ALTERNATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES

After completing the previous activity, research other possible interventions that could help preserve coral reefs.

Dr Gates’ Coral Lab website – found at http://gatescorallab.com/research – details other possible environmen-tal changes and associated research, though you should also consider other scientists’ approach to the problem.

Identify another possible intervention and write a report comparing the risks associ-ated with this environmental change to the intervention investigated in Can We Save the Reef?

Further information on Can We Save the Reef? can be found at SeaLight Pictures’ website, http://www.sealight-pictures.com/cwstr/

Extension activity: Consider the differences with the protecting the Great Barrier Reef versus other coral reefs around the world (for example, as Professor Johnston discusses, not every coral reef has the same level of biodiversity as the Great Barrier Reef). How does this affect your conclusion above? Would some interventions be suitable internationally – as the programme suggests – but not for the Great Barrier Reef?

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