The death of up to 90 percent of the corals present in certain parts of the world, and the collapse of ecosystems based on them, is beginning to leave enough people there without the means of subsistence.

Coral reefs reduce beach erosion, support tourism and serve as breeding grounds and habitat for fish. Coral bleaching, a consequence of environmental conditions increasingly hostile creatures must endure, makes the iridescent white reefs in cemeteries such as bone, and is damaging to coral reefs worldwide. Blame it on several factors, but the most dangerous is global warming. Because corals are highly sensitive to temperature, even small amounts of warming can trigger bleaching.

When ocean temperature rises beyond the narrow temperature range that corals can withstand, expel single-celled algae that live within the coral tissue, give color to the corals, and, most importantly, provide much of its nutrition. A prolonged bleaching leads to coral death. Continue reading →