The Overlooked Coral Reef Network: Scientists Say Atolls Deserve Greater Conservation Attention

A new international study suggests that atolls, the ring-shaped coral reef ecosystems scattered across the Pacific and Indian oceans, represent one of the world’s largest coral reef networks yet remain underrecognized in global conservation planning. Published in Frontiers in Marine Science , the study found that 309 Indo-Pacific atolls contain more than 27,000 square kilometers of mapped shallow coral reef habitat, accounting for 41. 5% of all mapped reef areas surrounding Indo-Pacific islands and nearly 8% of the world’s mapped shallow reefscape. Collectively, atoll reefs occupy nearly as much area as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The findings challenge the perception of atolls as isolated or peripheral coral reef systems and suggest they should be more explicitly incorporated into coral conservation strategies.

“Atolls are often discussed as small, vulnerable islands, but when we look at the reefs associated with them collectively, they emerge as one of the planet’s major coral reef systems,” said Alex Wegmann , lead author of the study and Lead Scientist for Island Resilience with The Nature Conservancy. “If we want coral reef conservation to reflect the full diversity and scale of the world’s reefs and address the associated challenges, atolls need to be part of that conversation. ” The study brings together atoll scientists, conservation practitioners, and community leaders from across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, North America, and Europe. Using a curated database of Indo-Pacific atolls and high-resolution reef mapping from the Allen Coral Atlas and the Interactive Data Portal for Indo-Pacific Atolls , researchers quantified the extent of reef habitat associated with atoll ecosystems and compared it to other globally recognized reef regions. Researchers say the…