新出版物自然对当前的珊瑚礁的发展带来了非常有趣的见解。在这本新出版物中，科学家描述了teturn teturn到大堡礁上的地点，91年前，开创性的GBR Expedition（1928-29）发生了。这次探险是由伦敦皇家学会（Royal Society of London）组织的，GBR探险队（GBRE）的成员居住在近海珊瑚岛（昆士兰州道格拉斯港（Port-Douglas））的Low Isles（Li）上一年多了。在此期间，GBRE记录了LI的珊瑚礁以及潮汐和底部社区的社区结构周围的环境条件，后者使用潜水头盔！
这项开创性的研究是一系列高度集中的探险，探索了其地质，史前和生态学。与1928年探险的遗产相关的另一个创新是该岛的准确，基于航空摄影的地图。
Using the 1928 expedition’s highly accurate mapping of the reef, modern researchers were able to revisit and sample precisely the same intertidal locations explored by the GBRE and a follow-up study in 1954: repeat three permanent traverses 76, 87 and 91 years later, and thereby form the longest ecological survey of coral reefs to date.
These data sets enabled them to extract a high-precision account of the ecological changes to intertidal and subtidal coral reef habitats over this long time. This study reveals a long-term systematic decline in coral and invertebrate richness at the Low Island reef since 1928 and a phase-shift to a low complexity coral community. Richness and diversity of these communities systematically declined for corals and other invertebrates.
The ratio of massive to branching corals was much greater in 2019 than in 1928, as was the ratio of soft to hard corals. Coral colony size has also changed considerably from 1928; the size range of Acroporid corals is 30% smaller in 2004–2019 than the size range in 1928–29 and similarly, the diameter of massive corals was 15% lower.
分支珊瑚对礁石上的所有压力因素更为敏感：旋风，刺海星的冠，漂白……因此先消失，无法回来。了解从干扰到高潮阶段的珊瑚社区的继承以及社区是否达到其前扰动状态至关重要。
AcroporaSP分支栖息地庇护所比大量的礁鱼物种要多得多porites物种。在许多位置，珊瑚覆盖层仍然很高，但是Acropora s sp分支珊瑚已被大量的孔子SP所取代，鱼类群落大大减少。因此，这种珊瑚物种的转变对礁石的所有生态都有巨大影响。
A very interesting study, showing the process and difficulty of reefs to recover from stress events. Understanding these shifts and changes is very important regarding reef restoration, and how we can actually help a reef community to recover faster, not to mention什么恢复它们。[[自然这是给予的
