Coral bleaching is a major issue around the world. Bleaching happens when the ocean water gets too warm for the coral. Corals are thermally sensitive, so they can only tolerate a small range of temperature. With climate change warming up our oceans, coral reefs are bleaching all over the world.
Zooxanthellae are marine algae that live inside coral and provide them with color and energy. If the temperature becomes too warm, the algae die. When the algae die, coral tissue becomes transparent, showing white coral skeleton.
Bleached coral
Healthy coral
In recent decades, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced two major bleaching events. These happened in the summers of 1998 and 2002 when, respectively, 42% and 54% of reefs were affected by bleaching. In 2005, the United States lost half of its reefs in the Caribbean because of a major bleaching event.
Bleaching is a huge step towards death in the life of coral. Without coral, there is a loss of habitat for mass amounts of sea life. While coral is being bleached and dying all throughout the Earth’s oceans, the animals that live on them are losing a home.
One of the biggest ways we can help to slow the beaching is awareness. If people learn about what is actually happening and understand how large of a problem it is, then policies can be put into place. The ocean is a huge mystery to basically all people who do not study it. Knowledge and understanding are the biggest allies to help end coral bleaching and prevent any further damage.
Below are the articles that I used to find information.
https://www.coralcoe.org.au/for-managers/coral-bleaching-and-the-great-barrier-reef
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
http://www.reefteach.com.au/coral-bleaching/
This website goes super in-depth about this issue and has a documentary that is an amazing watch.