Survival in a changing world

Your average baby turtle faces a multitude of challenges from the moment it breaks through its shell and into the world beyond. Weighing just an ounce and with only moonlight and natural instincts to guide them, most do not survive the short trip from nesting beach to ocean. Hungry crabs and other predators snatch many up, others become lost and die or fall victim to sharks and other carnivorous fishes once they reach the water. Of the hundred or so eggs from each nest, on average only one baby turtle survives into adulthood.

Yet there are so many of them that thousands of new hatchlings do survive against the odds. One typical arena for these life or death struggles is Heron Island, a tiny coral island located within the Great Barrier Reef off Gladstone on Australia’s east coast. Home to thousands of turtles, the slightest change to the delicate balance of this reef could also potentially endanger thousands of other species.

Against this backdrop, Rio Tinto Aluminium (RTA), the Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation (GBRRF) and The University of Queensland (UQ) are working together to focus on arguably the greatest risk facing the world’s reef ecosystems – ocean acidification.

Why RTA is involvedin Future Reef