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Coral reefs deserve evidence-based management not heroic interference

Nature Climate Change (2024)Cite this article

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Climate impacts are triggering a host of novel bio- and geoengineering interventions to save coral reefs. This Comment challenges heroic scientific assumptions and advocates for a more systemic, evidence-based approach to caring for coral reefs.

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Fig. 1: Bleached and dead nursery corals.

Alexis Rosenfeld/Contributor/Getty Images News/Getty Images

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Robert P. Streit & David R. Bellwood

  2. School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Robert P. Streit & Tiffany H. Morrison

  3. Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Tiffany H. Morrison

  4. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

    Tiffany H. Morrison

Authors
  1. Robert P. Streit
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  2. Tiffany H. Morrison
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  3. David R. Bellwood
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Correspondence to Robert P. Streit.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Deron Burkepile and Maria Byrne for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Streit, R.P., Morrison, T.H. & Bellwood, D.R. Coral reefs deserve evidence-based management not heroic interference. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02063-6

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