The hard coral community at Green Island Reef is in the early stages of recovery following major damage caused from predation by Acanthaster between 1979 and 1981. Five years after the outbreak, in 1985, the coral community was dominated by juvenile corals mainly of the family
Acroporidae. Of 20 sites surveyed by line transect, only 5 had a hard coral cover greater than 10%. Some Pocillopora damicornis was apparently undamaged by A. planci, and some staghorn Acropora thickets were
regenerating from small parts of colonies which escaped predation.
There was no significant change in hard coral cover at any of 12 sites
resurveyed one year later in 1986. The absence of an increase in hard
coral cover over the one year period is probably partly due to the early
successional stage of the coral community, but it might also be partly
attributable to the effects of Cyclone Winifred which passed through the
area in February 1986
