Coral Reefs Grow Faster and Healthier When Parrotfish Are Abundant
Thursday, January 26, 2017 - 13:31
in Earth & Climate
Caribbean coral reefs have become biologically and economically degraded habitats. The relative weight of the big factors in this ecological catastrophe--pollution, overfishing, warming and ocean acidification--is hotly debated by marine biologists. A new study compiling 3,000 years of change in reefs in the western Caribbean by Smithsonian scientists and colleagues reveals compelling evidence that parrotfish, which eat the algae that can smother corals, are vital to coral-reef health