CORAL BLEACHING – STORY MAP

Coral Reefs are essential ecosystems ecologically as well as economically. These highly biodiverse and productive ecosystems are also worth billions of dollars to the global economy. Unfortunately, they are facing multiple threats to their survival. One major threat is coral bleaching events due to increasing ocean temperatures. There has been a continued increase in annual sea surface temperature averages from the 1970s through present day. This trend is expected to increase from continued greenhouse gas emissions. Coral bleaching is the expelling of the host coral’s microalgae symbiont living within the tissues known as zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae provide the coral with the majority of its needed nutrients for growth and productivity. The increase in frequency and duration of bleaching events worldwide is becoming too short for the corals to effectively recover and is leading to mass die offs of coral reefs. Repeated events will inevitably lead to further death and devastation in the future. Prediction models can be used to identify potential at-risk areas as a means of influencing future management and conservation strategies. Coral restoration is also an increasingly useful tool that is helping to rebuild coral reefs and stimulate faster growth and adaptation.