What are corals? - ICRI Table corals form table-like structures and often have fused branches Elkhorn coral has large, flattened branches Foliose corals have broad plate-like portions rising in whorl-like patterns Encrusting corals grow as a thin layer against a substrate Massive corals are ball-shaped or boulder-like and may be as small as an egg or as large as a
84% of the world’s coral reefs impacted in the most intense global . . . New 5-km Coral Bleaching Products - Higher spatial resolution is the improvement to NOAA Coral Reef Watch remote-sensing products most requested by coral reef ecosystem scientists and resource managers NOAA Coral Reef Watch and its partners have developed a new experimental daily global 5 km coral bleaching thermal stress monitoring product suite, now available on the Coral Reef Watch web
Coral Bleaching Hub - ICRI The Coral Bleaching Hub has been created to share key messages and resources about Coral Reef Bleaching, its impacts, causes and solutions currently being implemented and developed, supporting managers and policy makers through policy and planning, and encouraging cooperation amongst ICRI members
Corals and Reefs for PDF - International Coral Reef Initiative Among the largest threats to corals are siltation and eutrophication, caused by deforesta-tion and sewage and fertilizer runoff Eutrophication leads to increased growth of turf- and macroalgae, which compete with corals for space, shade smaller colonies and bind sedi-ment, which can lead to suffocation of corals
Over 40% of coral species face extinction – IUCN Red List The majority of corals are found across the Indo-Pacific The global assessment of reef- building corals includes 85 Atlantic coral species highlighted in a PLOS One journal article also published today Atlantic coral species are particularly highly threatened due to annual severe bleaching events, pollution and the impacts of disease
Benefits of coral reefs - ICRI Coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the sea, both due to the vast amount of species they harbour, and to the high productivity they yield
What is Coral Bleaching? - ICRI Bleaching is the process by which corals lose their symbiotic algae, Zooxanthellae, that give them their distinctive colours and main energy sources, due to environmental stressors Thus a bleached coral appears pale or white, and are more susceptible to disease and death But bleached corals are not dead corals and can recover
IUCN Red List: Human activity devastating marine species from . . . - ICRI “The pillar coral is just one of the 26 corals now listed as Critically Endangered in the Atlantic Ocean, where almost half of all corals are now at elevated risk of extinction due to climate change and other impacts,” said Dr Beth Polidoro Associate Professor at Arizona State University and Red List Coordinator for the IUCN SSC Coral
Coral Reefs Ingeniously, the corals’ symbiotic algae (think the chloroplasts of plants) works overtime to not only biosynthesise sugars but an active substance, called Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids (MAA), that coats corals and protects both algae and host from UV radiation Corals, thus, offer inspiration and solution to the problem of UV radiation
Coral Bleaching Latest News - ICRI The first signs of coral bleaching were postponed at the end of August in Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as in St-Martin and St-Barthélemy and the resumption of color of bleached corals at the end of November beginning of December 2023, i e 3 months of impact of the bleaching phenomenon (up to 80%, or even more locally, of bleached coral