When conditions are not favorable for the zooxanthellae( i.e. too cold/warm, too many pollutants in the water, corals have disease, etc) they are expelled from the coral and are therefore unable to continue giving the corals the energy they need. This does not cause coral death but is extremely stressful to the coral to survive without the zooxanthellae.
These events of coral bleaching are causing not only the coral to die but are removing essential habitat for many organisms. Since these coral reefs are the most productive areas of the ocean the removal of this habitat is a huge problem and the recent warming changes have reduced this habitat. It is causing reduction of many fish because of lack of habitat areas to hide. Continued bleaching of these corals could lead to extreme changes in these ocean areas.
References
Science Daily
Wikipedia Coral Bleaching
NOAA
World Press
I think this is such a serious issue that people just push aside. The coral reefs produce a habitat filled with so much biodiversity that is unique to that ecosystem. It is such a shame do see the bleaching of the corals and the predictions held for them in the future.
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ReplyDeleteI agree. I think since a majority of people in the U.S. do not have direct interactions with coral reef communities they do not know how greatly it has been affected. It is difficult to show the changes in these communities when we do not have any
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