Coral Bleaching

It’s easy to forget how wild and diverse our planet really is. Going about our daily lives, you’re not likely to think about how what you’re doing every day affects the rest of Earth. But changes are happening all around us and climate change is affecting major parts of our planet that we don’t often see. One of those majorly affected is our oceans’ coral by the affect of coral bleaching.

Simply put, coral bleaching is when coral looses its color and turns white. Not only is this bad for our eyes (goodbye beautiful coral color) but it means the coral is dying, if not already dead. Microscopic algae called zooxanthellae are what give coral their bright, beautiful color. These algae live within the coral and depend on each other to survive. But when the ocean environment gets too hot, the coral “stresses out” and rids itself of the algae. If the temperature stays high, the coral remains without the algae and dies.

The culprit here is climate change, which has led to the heating of our world’s oceans. According to the EPA, sea surface temperature has been consistently higher during the past three decades than at any other time since reliable observations began in 1880. This has a major impact on the coral, which can begin bleaching with as little of a temperature change as 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

So what if you’re not a diver and you don’t really care about beautiful corals? Well you still should care! Coral survival is crucial to entire reef ecosystems on which wildlife and people depend. Thousands of species depend on coral, from fish to crab to sea birds. Coral provides shelter and protection for sea animals and support organisms at the bottom of the food chain, which affects the chain all the way up to humans.

Bleaching coral not only affects our food chain and our diving tourism, but also our safety. Coral reefs provide natural barriers from storms and tides on certain coastlines, meaning that without them humans are more susceptible to flooding and other coastal issues of severe weather.

In order to save the planet’s coral, we need to act now before it’s too late. The best way is by combating climate change on a major level. Easier said than done, I know. The best thing to do is be aware, watch your own personal carbon footprint (refer to our blog for daily ways to alter yours), and stay active in your local and national policies.

If you’re interested in learning more, there is a brilliant documentary called Chasing Coral that will show you the affects of climate change on coral. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.