In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years.

The study was led by researchers at the University of Melbourne and used a range of natural indicators including tree rings, corals and ice cores to study Australasian temperatures over the past millennium and compared them to climate model simulations.

The National Biodiversity Authority will come out with targets for protecting the diversity of living organisms in time for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in India in October, according to its Chairman, Dr Balakrishna Pisupati.

PARIS: Greenhouse gases are on track for inflicting costs of nearly $2 trillion annually in damage to the oceans by 2100, according to a Swedish study published on Wednesday. The estimate by the Stockholm Environment Institute is based on the assumption that climate-altering carbon emissions continue their upward spiral without a pause. Warmer seas will lead to greater acidification and oxygen loss, hitting fisheries and coral reefs, it warns.

Washington: The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, scientists have said. Looking back at this warm period in Earth’s history could offer help in forecasting the impact of human-spurred climate change, researchers said. Quickly acidifying seawater eats away at coral reefs, which provide habitat for other animals and plants, and makes it harder for mussels and oysters to form protective shells.

The world's oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, scientists said on Thursday.

Looking back at this bygone warm period in Earth's history could offer help in forecasting the impact of human-spurred climate change, researchers said.

Australia's rapid expansion of coal ports in the next decade will threaten the Great Barrier Reef as increased ship traffic, port infrastructure and dredging put pressure on the world's largest coral reef, Greenpeace said on Thursday.

Coal is one of Australia's top export earners, and the Great Barrier Reef sits off the coast of the eastern state of Queensland, the country's largest coal-producer.