Can Artificial Intelligence Save The Great Barrier Reef?

Artificial intelligence is transforming the tech world, however, could it help save the Great Barrier Reef?

Australian researchers are developing a global real-time monitoring system to protect coral reefs from climate change and bleaching, which has affected 75% of reefs in the past two years.

The Great Barrier Reef has been devastated by bleaching since 2016, worsened by starfish outbreaks and coastal development.

Led by the University of South Australia (UniSA), the project uses remote sensing, AI, and GIS to monitor and reduce damage. A central platform will consolidate data for real-time global monitoring.

Dr. Abdullahi Chowdhury, lead researcher at UniSA, explains that the model will integrate all factors affecting coral reefs, providing real-time predictions for environmental scientists.

“At the moment we have separate models that analyse substantial data on reef health – including bleaching levels, disease incidence, juvenile coral density and reef fish abundance – but these data sets are not integrated, and they exist in silos,” Dr Chowdhury says.

“Consequently, it is challenging to see the ‘big picture’ of reef health or to conduct large scale, real-time analyses.”

The researchers say an integrated system will track bleaching severity and trends over time; monitor crown-of-thorns starfish populations and predation risks; detect disease outbreaks and juvenile coral levels; and assess reef fish abundance, diversity, length, and biomass.

“By centralising all this data in real time, we can generate predictive models that will help conservation efforts, enabling earlier intervention,” according to Central Queensland University PhD candidate Musfera Jahan, a GIS data expert.

The technology will bring together datasets from organisations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) and Australia’s CSIRO.

“The future of coral reef conservation lies at the intersection of technology and collaboration. This research provides a roadmap for harnessing these technologies to ensure the survival of coral reefs for generations to come,” the researchers say.

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