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Corals in a Warming Ocean

August 28, 2012

Reef-building corals contain algae cells in their tissues that nourish them and give them their distinctive color. High water temperatures cause corals to release their algae and lose their color, a condition known as “bleaching” seen here in a 2010 bleaching event in the Red Sea. WHOI scientists Kristopher Karnauskas and Anne Cohen studied how global warming may affect coral reefs in the equatorial Pacific and found that at some tiny islands the water will warm more slowly than surrounding areas, perhaps creating refuges for corals. Karnauskas will talk about their findings at today’s Science Made Public lecture, at 2:30 in the WHOI Ocean Science Exhibit Center auditorium. (Photo by Konrad Hughen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)