© Gaëlle Quéré / Fondation Tara Expéditions An illustration of the degradation of the coral reefs of the Samoan Islands (right), with a comparison with the preserved reefs of the Cook Islands (left) visited as part of the Tara Pacific expedition
Upolu, one of the nine islands of Samoa, in the Pacific Ocean. Well-known among fans of diving, this isolated coral reef promised to be a site of rich biodiversity for the scientists on the Tara Pacific expedition, principally from the CNRS, the CEA
1 and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Although some signs of bleaching had been observed on their route, the reefs of Upolu proved to be in a far more degraded state: coral cover is below 10% in over 80% of the 124 sites considered. According to the scientists, this situation can be explained by a combination of global and local factors. Their study is published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin . Organized over a period of almost three years, the Tara Pacific expedition has made it possible to study some of the most isolated coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. Indeed, given their isolation, many of these reefs remain scantly documented.
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