Lord Howe Island lies in the middle of the ocean, about 700 kilometers northeast of Sydney. It’s covered in lush forest and fringed by the world’s most southerly coral reef ecosystem.
This reef system isn’t as famous as its northern neighbor, the Great Barrier Reef. Our new research, in the Journal of Applied Ecology, shows it plays an outsized role in keeping vast coral regions across the Pacific connected — and alive.
A small number of other reefs in the region serve a similar function. Knowing which reefs matter most for recovery and adaptation to ocean warming — and protecting them now — could make the difference between regional reef collapse and long-term resilience.
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