Coral Bleaching!!!

So the Belize Barrier Reef is incredibly beautiful, but it might not stay like that. Suppose the temperature warms up by ten degrees due to global warming or something. Doesn't seem like much right? No! It's a catastrophe. Ten degrees oh my god! (That's Fahrenheit to all you non-Americans out there).

Well it's the end of the world for coral reefs. Corals are very delicate creatures. Any sort of disturbance and they get stressed out and die. So a ten degree rise in temperature is a big deal. Coral releases zooxanthellae, which is a kind of algae that gives the coral its color and is part of the symbiotic relationship that keeps coral alive. The coral becomes white without the algae (hence coral bleaching).

When coral dies, the plankton living within the coral die, and then the little fish, and then the bigger fish, and the sea turtles and the manatees, and everything dies!

So coral bleaching, bad. Really bad.

Most organisms that are suitable for coral life would be suitable for the new conditions. Most likely new  organisms will move into the area.

The overall effect would be the destruction of the coral reef.

So let's keep the corals safe so they still look like this!

Until next time.

Citations

Cunningham, W. P., Cunningham, M. A., & Saigo, B. W. (2007). Biomes: Global Patterns of Life. Environmental Science: A Global Concern (9 ed., pp. 101, 108-110). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.