Resilience is an ecosystem’s ability to recover and maintain its functions and services after disruptions like coral bleaching, storm damage or pollution.
There is hope.
Reef resilience.
Healthy coral reefs possess an extraordinary ability to bounce back from devastating events like coral bleaching — but only when given a fighting chance.
Resilient reefs thrive on biodiversity through what scientists call "functional redundancy" — nature's insurance policy. When multiple species perform the same ecological role, the reef maintains stability even when individual species are affected by disturbances.
Consider the critical job of algae control: colourful parrot fish, industrious damselfish, and countless invertebrates all help keep aggressive algae in check. If disease affects one grazing species, others continue this essential work — but only if they're present and protected.
The most significant factor in reef resilience? The everyday threats reefs face between major events. A reef constantly struggling with pollution, physical damage from tourism activities, or overfishing may appear functional on the surface, until a major stress like bleaching strikes. Then, lacking reserves and redundancy, these compromised reefs often fail to recover.
By addressing local tourism impacts today, we strengthen reef immunity against tomorrow's global challenges.
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