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Hidden Battles

April 2, 2016

These images, which are CT scans similar to those taken at hospitals of the human body, provide a detailed look inside coral skeletons. The holes were made by bioeroders, small organisms such as mollusks and sponges that find shelter in the skeletons of living corals. Recent research by members of the Cohen Lab suggests that increased ocean acidification and nutrient concentrations act together to accelerate bioerosion rates. In order to keep pace with sea level rise, reef-building corals must produce more skeleton than is lost from bioerosion. Rapidly changing ocean chemistry threatens to tip this delicate balance.(Photo courtesy of Tom DeCarlo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)