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The public closure of a beloved surfing site has sparked unease in the Maldivian capital.

The public closure of a beloved surfing site has sparked unease in the Maldivian capital.

DNA reveals mating patterns of critically endangered sea turtle.

Endangered green turtle numbers only half of official estimates.

Research team analyses genetic make-up of two pregnant females. "Nature Communications": The living fossil's spawn have only one father

Pakistani boat blows self up after India navy chase.

Pakistani boat blows self up after India navy chase.

The Christmas Island crab migration, considered a wonder of the planet, has begun, and this year the crabs have some assistance. Thousands of crabs are using the world's only purpose-built crab bridge to scuttle safely from the forests to the oceans to spawn.

The Christmas Island crab migration, considered a wonder of the planet, has begun, and this year the crabs have some assistance. Thousands of crabs are using the world's only purpose-built crab bridge to scuttle safely from the forests to the oceans to spawn.

Space crunch destroying Olive Ridley eggs at Gahirmatha in Odisha.

Space crunch destroying Olive Ridley eggs at Gahirmatha in Odisha.

SHARK Bay and the coastline off Karratha and Perth may be popular eateries for whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), satellite tracking has revealed.

SHARK Bay and the coastline off Karratha and Perth may be popular eateries for whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), satellite tracking has revealed.

Researchers, including two Oregon State University scientists, argue in a new study that a paradigm shift is needed for assessing bridges' tsunami risk.

Why Kenya must take control of sand harvesting off its coast.

Endangered turtle goes to lay eggs but airport runway is built on beach.

New search for SA's rare dinosaur fish gets under way.

Speaking with: Peter GREEN on saving the Christmas Island red crab.

Green turtle numbers continue to rise on a group of islands where the species has now been protected for more than 50 years, new research shows.

Anthropogenic climate change has caused widespread loss of species biodiversity and ecosystem productivity across the globe, particularly on tropical coral reefs. Predicting the future vulnerability of reef-building corals, the foundation species of coral reef ecosystems, is crucial for cost-effective conservation planning in the Anthropocene. In this study, we combine regional population genetic connectivity and seascape analyses to explore patterns of genetic offset (the mismatch of gene-environmental associations under future climate conditions) in Acropora digitifera across 12 degrees of latitude in Western Australia. Our data revealed a pattern of restricted gene flow and limited genetic connectivity among geographically distant reef systems. Environmental association analyses identified a suite of loci strongly associated with the regional temperature variation. These loci helped forecast future genetic offset in gradient forest and generalized dissimilarity models. These analyses predicted pronounced differences in the response of different reef systems in Western Australia to rising temperatures. Under the most optimistic future warming scenario (RCP 2.6), we predicted a general pattern of increasing genetic offset with latitude. Under the extreme climate scenario (RCP 8.5 in 2090-2100), coral populations at the Ningaloo World Heritage Area were predicted to experience a higher mismatch between current allele frequencies and those required to cope with local environmental change, compared to populations in the inshore Kimberley region. The study suggests complex and spatially heterogeneous patterns of climate-change vulnerability in coral populations across Western Australia, reinforcing the notion that regionally tailored conservation efforts will be most effective at managing coral reef resilience into the future.