corals absorb carbon dioxide to grow and will suffer tempreture differences far greater than we have so far experienced in global warming. They are degrading and the truth of the matter is nobody really knows why!

Dave Dupree, london, uk

no mike there was not. coral lives in a very specific temp, ph ranges(i would go for possibly jurrasic but the coral animal isn't so well designed for the fossil record....but could good for you looking up the names of those periods but striking out with the epoch i'm afraid . after the el nino effect of '98 many coral areas around the world (caribeann, gulf of thailand, indian ocean) saw a 50% bleaching of the coral sites followed be massive death percentages. Oh and Alan ,
"And so ....... I am sure it's lovely to look at but what purpose does it serve in the grand scale of things"

most stupid statement I've ever heard. idiots abound unfortunately

john damien, london, england

I lived in the Middle East for 17 years. The Red Sea, which has beautiful coral reefs, is a lot warmer then the Coral Sea which houses the Great Barrier Reef so how come the Great Barrier Reef will die if the temperature of its surrounding water goes up by 2.6 degrees. It's just another panic measure to frighten folks ....... another load of climate change rubbish put about by religious 'climate' fanatics.

Dinoz, Brisbane, Australia