Our ocean has borne the brunt of warming temperatures around the world. It has absorbed 93 percent of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases since the mid-20th century, causing warmer, more acidic waters. This acidification has a direct impact on shallow water coral reefs, preventing them from building a strong skeleton. Ever hotter waters are also leading to coral bleaching – a process in which stressed tropical shallow waters corals expel their symbiotic algae which benefit the coral by producing food. Due to these rising temperatures, the ocean is experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event on record.
Tropical coral reefs are a biodiversity hub and host an estimated 950,000 species around the world. Unfortunately, many shallow water coral reefs have experienced a series of die-offs due to multiple stressors, including recent and worsening marine heat waves. Last…