Coral Grief: Warming Climate Threatens Reef Destruction [News]

A survey of 704 species of coral--tiny polyps with hard shells, some of which form spectacular underwater reefs--has found that nearly 33 percent of them face a greater threat of becoming extinct as the globe warms. The main culprits, according to the study published today in Science: bleaching--when corals expel the algae that normally feeds them and gives them color--as well as disease outbreaks in coral weakened by warming sea-surface temperatures. [More]

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