According to a new study, from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), the recovery of coral reefs, whose futures are threatened throughout the world, is possible with the help of shark populations.

By constant monitoring of the reefs off Australia's northwest coast, the link between the sharks and coral reefs has been found.

It has also been found that where the number of sharks was low due to fishing, herbivores, which are important fishes in promoting coral reefs, were also low.

Dr. Mark Meekan, Principal Researcher at AIMS and co-author of the publication that appears in the scientific journal, PLOS ONE says, "At first glance the result might seem strange".

He also added that our analysis suggests that where shark numbers are reduced we see a fundamental change in the structure of food chains on reefs.

According to a survey, the mid-level predators such as snappers have increased in number and herbivore such as parrot fishes have decreased in number.

The parrot fish are very important as they eat the algae that would otherwise overwhelm young corals on reefs, which are recovering from natural disturbances.

It can be seen in the tracking study that individual reef sharks are closely attached to certain coral reefs. So, to protect the top- level predators, a small marine protected area could be very effective.