Photo courtesy of: © Andrew Jalbert
Excerpts;
Coral reefs are sensitive to elevated sea temperatures, resulting in coral bleaching, which involves the breakdown of the symbiosis between corals and the dinoflagellate symbionts residing in coral tissue. Mass coral bleaching and mortality events have been observed worldwide since the early 1980s.
Mass coral bleaching events have become a widespread phenomenon causing serious concerns with regard to the survival of corals. Triggered by high ocean temperatures, bleaching events are projected to increase in frequency and intensity. Here, we provide a comprehensive global study of coral bleaching in terms of global mean temperature change, based on an extended set of emissions scenarios and models.
Coral reef ecosystems provide habitat for over a million species and are important for the socio-economic well-being of approximately 500 million people…
