Coral reefs are facing an unprecedented threat from global carbon emissions, chiefly because of hotter oceans and acidification as the atmospheric gas dissolves into seawater.
Coral exists in a mutually beneficial relationship with zooxanthellae algae, which live inside the coral’s polyps. The algae use the coral’s waste products and provide the nutrients to feed them through photosynthesis. Higher sea temperatures force the coral to expel the colorful algae and, if this process is prolonged, the coral starves.
During a coral bleaching event, reefs lose so much zooxanthellae that they become white and experience massive die-offs. Ocean acidification exacerbates the problem, eroding the reef, forcing corals to expend more energy building their calcium carbonate skeletons and slowing their growth rate.
The average global temperature is already 1°C hotter than in preindustrial times. In addition, climate change is intensifying periodic weather phenomena, such as El Nino warming events, increasing the temperatures reefs experience and reducing the recovery interval between bleaching events.
Climate models predict that global heating will likely continue over the coming century because our carbon emissions are expected to continue rising. About 75 percent of tropical reefs were hit by bleaching during a global ocean heatwave from 2014 to 2017.
Half of tropical coral reefs have been lost during the past three decades and, even if temperatures were kept no higher than 1.5°C, between 70 and 90 percent of reefs would be lost by the end of the century.
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