image: Scott Reef had largely recovered from a catastrophic mass bleaching of corals within twelve years of the disturbance, despite the lack of connectivity to other reefs in the region. The rate of recovery was attributed to the lack of many local anthropogenic pressures affecting reefs around the world, such as degraded water quality and overfishing of herbivores. This image relates to a paper that appeared in 5 April, 2013, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by James P. Gilmour at the University of Western Australia Oceans Institute in Perth, WA, Australia, and colleagues was titled, "Recovery of an Isolated Coral Reef System Following Severe Disturbance." view more
Credit: [Image courtesy of N. Thake]