Climate Change and Coral Reefs

In honor of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, the CRE Blog is featuring ocean-related content  this week.

Coral Reefs are some of the most colorfully vibrant and biodiverse habitats on Earth, but they are also extremely vulnerable to adverse effects of fluctuations in sea conditions. When sea temperature rises, corals become stressed and coral bleaching often begins. Coral bleaching, which results in the coral turning white, is a breakdown in the symbiotic relationship between the organisms that comprise coral. Although this does not necessarily mean the coral has died, it is left extremely vulnerable to further damage and death. 

An introduction to coral reefs by NOAA

Although Coral Reefs around the world seem to be stressed more frequently due to rising global temperatures, there is some scientific evidence that corals are able to survive, recover from and adapt to these stressful conditions. Dr. Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University presents evidence of this from America Samoa in the video below. Dr. Palumbi discusses the stress caused by changing temperatures in addition to the stress caused by Ocean Acidification, which occurs due to larger concentrations of Carbon Dioxide in the Earth's Oceans. 

In this video, Dr. Stephen Palumbi presents his research regarding the coral reefs of America Samoa

The video above, from UCLA's Life Sciences Lecture Series is a bit lengthy. If you are interested in the topic, but don't necessarily want to invest 40 minutes of your attention span, check out these videos by Dr. Palumbi and his colleagues, which are 2-4 minutes in length and focus on ecological sustainability.