Coral Reef Bleaching

Coral Reef Bleaching Coral reef bleaching, which is the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa. The cause of the whitening is “from the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae and/or a reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentrations in zooxanthellae residing within the gastrodermal tissues of host animals.” (P.W.Glynn) The reason why coral reef bleaching is such a concern is because the “consequences of bleaching large numbers of reef-building scleractinian corals and hydrocorals.”(P.W.Glynn) Sunscreen causes coral bleaching by promoting viral infections. The goal of this experiment was to see how sunblock ingredients have an impact on hard coral and their symbiotic algae. The experiments …show more content…
(Buchheim, Jason) So if the stress of the bleaching isn’t severe and it decreases as time goes on then the coral is more likely to gain back their symbiotic algae within several weeks or a few months before it's back to normal. If the stress continues, then the zooxanthellae populations will not recover and that ends with the coral host dying. Since the bleaching occurs by stress, it can be induced by many different factors, either alone or together. With this being known, it is difficult to clearly classify the cause for the bleaching that is happening to the coral. (Buchheim, Jason) Some of the stressor that have been known for the coral reef bleaching are temperature, solar irradiance, subaerial exposure, sedimentation, freshwater dilution, inorganic nutrient, xenobiotic, and finally epizootics. Temperature is known for stressing the coral because the coral lives in a narrow temperature margin, so when the temperature of the water either drops or increases it will induce the coral bleaching. Solar irradiance is known for causing the stress during the summer months and in coral that lives in shallow water. Both photosynthetically active radiation and ultraviolet radiation are known for causing the bleaching. Subaerial exposure causing bleaching by sudden exposure to the reef flat …show more content…
With the global climate changing so is the coral like many other things and sadly they are dying off because of the temperature changing. Which is causing coral reef bleaching which is when the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa it is caused by when zooxanthellae decline and or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments within the zooxanthellae