Coral Health, Great Barrier Reef

Determining health of coral habitats by monitoring bleaching through citizen science initiative.

Integrating global coral health monitoring with education and public outreach using simple and engaging tools. This initiative provides people with accessible information about coral reefs and climate change, and hands-on experience collecting scientific data on coral bleaching using a color chart to identify coral health. This proxy indicator allows users to identify coral health by color via a chart that is designed for use by volunteers. The technique allows for large scale assessment of reef conditions and is an effective tool for monitoring changes in reef health over time and great expanses of marine territory. Due to its simplicity, it is suitable for use by anyone over the age of six years, and no prior training is needed. The chart is used in the field and the classroom and is available in twelve languages. Data has been collected on approximately 230,000 corals and is publicly accessible in 79 countries.