A report has uncovered recently that coral reefs have been growing at the same rate as that at sites offshore from Western Australia despite climatic changes in the Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef. It has been found that corals have been enjoying the climate and are increasing their growth in a warm weather.

An analysis was conducted by a team of researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Wide number of core samples from Western Australian corals was taken by the researchers. It has been found that coral samples covering a 110-year span from 1900 to 2010 were taken by the researchers. Also, a 1000 km north-south stretch was covered by the researchers that gave them a gigantic sample of ocean temperatures.

It was found after the research that the growth of coral reefs was greatly influenced by warm temperature than ocean acidification. The researchers have told that marginal reefs were not hampered by warm climatic conditions. In fact, they were taking advantage of warmer conditions.

As per Dr. Tim Cooper, lead researcher of the team, acidification, however, slowed down the growth of corals at some or the other point. But, warmth of temperature helped them to grow comparatively faster than those at sites offshore from Western Australia.

It was found that Great Barrier Reef was suffering from bleaching and damage, though warmer oceans have a positive impact on coral growth. "When you get unusually warm waters you can get coral bleaching events, that's one threshold corals can reach if the water temperatures continue to warm”, said Janice Lough, principal research scientist.

The report concludes that imposition of environmental changes by humans on corals has been resulting in their rapid growth rate.