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Call to protect all coral reefs

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The world's coral reefs are in decline, threatening the food security of millions of people. Adopting an ecosystem-scale approach that protects deep as well as shallow reefs would deliver several social and economic benefits.

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Figure 1: Interconnections between land, shallow and deep reefs.
Figure 2: Depth limits of reef-building corals.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia

    Tom C. L. Bridge & Terry P. Hughes

  2. Marine Conservation Institute, 4010 Stone Way North, Suite 210, Seattle, 98103, Washington, USA

    John M. Guinotte

  3. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Pim Bongaerts

  4. Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Pim Bongaerts

Authors
  1. Tom C. L. Bridge
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  2. Terry P. Hughes
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  3. John M. Guinotte
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  4. Pim Bongaerts
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Terry P. Hughes.

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Bridge, T., Hughes, T., Guinotte, J. et al. Call to protect all coral reefs. Nature Clim Change 3, 528–530 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1879

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