Coral Reef Health

Norfolk Marine Park and Norfolk Island Research

Norfolk Marine Park State of the Reef Reports

Coral Reef Health Annual Reports Norfolk Island. Conducted for and funded by Marine Parks Australia 2020-2028 You can access and cite our annual state of the reef reports following the links provided below.

Coral Reef Health Report. 2024-25 https://australianmarineparks.gov.au/science/scientific-publications/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health-2025/

Coral Reef Health Report 2023-2024 https://australianmarineparks.gov.au/science/scientific-publications/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health-2024/

Coral Reef Health Report 2022-2023 https://australianmarineparks.gov.au/science/scientific-publications/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health-2024/

Coral Reef Health Report 2021-2022 https://australianmarineparks.gov.au/science/scientific-publications/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health-2023/

Coral Reef Health Report 2020-2021 https://australianmarineparks.gov.au/science/scientific-publications/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health/norfolk-island-lagoonal-reef-ecosystem-health-2022/

Norfolk Marine Park Research Publications

Vuleta, S., Leggat WP., and Ainsworth TD. (2025). Photoendosymbiosis of the Blue Subtropical Montipora Corals of Norfolk Island, South Pacific. Microorganisms 2025, 13(9), 2155.

Lim Ho M., C Page, B Leggat, T Gaston, S Eckhardt, T Ainsworth. (2025). Anthropogenic Impacts on Coral-Algal Interactions of the Subtropical Lagoonal Reef, Norfolk Island. Integrative Organismal Biology, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2025

Lim Ho M., C Page, B Leggat, T Gaston, S Eckhardt, T Ainsworth. (2025). What is the evidence for the impact of ocean warming on subtropical and temperate corals and coral reefs? A systematic map. Environmental Evidence, 13 (1), 25.

Eckhardt, S., Ainsworth, T. D., Leggat, W., Page, C. E. (2024). Colonial Ascidian Populations at Inshore Coral Reefs of Norfolk Island, South Pacific. Diversity, 16(7).

Page, C. E., Ainsworth, T. D., Leggat, W., Egan, S., Gupta, A. S., Raoult, V., & Gaston, T. F. (2023). Localising terrestrially derived pollution inputs to threatened near-shore coral reefs through stable isotope, water quality and oceanographic analysis. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 193, 115193.

Page, C. E., Leggat, W., Egan, S., & Ainsworth, T. D. (2023). A coral disease outbreak highlights vulnerability of remote high-latitude lagoons to global and local stressors. Iscience, 26(3).

Ricci, F., Leggat, W., Page, C. E., & Ainsworth, T. D. (2022). Coral growth anomalies, neoplasms, and tumors in the Anthropocene. Trends in Microbiology.

Lord Howe Island Research

Bergman, J. L., Ricci, F., Leggat, W., & Ainsworth, T. D. (2023). Characteristics of The Bleached Microbiome of The Generalist Coral Pocillopora damicornis from Two Distinct Reef Habitats. Integrative Organismal Biology, 5(1), obad012.

Steinberg, R. K., Ainsworth, T. D., Moriarty, T., Bednarek, T., Dafforn, K. A., & Johnston, E. L. (2022). Bleaching susceptibility and resistance of octocorals and anemones at the world’s southern-most coral reef. Frontiers in Physiology, 13, 804193.

Coral Bleaching Research Resources

Ho, M.L., Lagisz, M., Nakagawa, S., Perkins-Kilpatrick, S., Sawyers, P., Page C., Leggat B., Gaston T., Hobday A., Richards Z., and Ainsworth T. (2024). What is the evidence for the impact of ocean warming on subtropical and temperate corals and coral reefs? A systematic map. Environmental Evidence 13(25).

Vuleta, S., Nakagawa, S., Ainsworth, T. D. (2024). The global significance of Scleractinian corals without photoendosymbiosis. Scientific Reports, 14, 10161.

Page, C. E., Anderson, E., Ainsworth, T. D. (2024). Building living systematic reviews and reporting standards for comparative microscopic analysis of white diseases in hard corals. Ecology and Evolution, 14(7), e11616.

Leggat, W., Heron, S. F., Fordyce, A., Suggett, D. J., & Ainsworth, T. D. (2022). Experiment Degree Heating Week (eDHW) as a novel metric to reconcile and validate past and future global coral bleaching studies. Journal of Environmental Management, 301, 113919.

Ainsworth, T. D., Leggat, W., Silliman, B. R., Lantz, C. A., Bergman, J. L., Fordyce, A. J., … & Heron, S. F. (2021). Rebuilding relationships on coral reefs: Coral bleaching knowledge‐sharing to aid adaptation planning for reef users: Bleaching emergence on reefs demonstrates the need to consider reef scale and accessibility when preparing for, and responding to, coral bleaching. Bioessays, 43(9), 2100048.